Mississippi State’s Richie Brown Named Campbell Trophy Semifinalist

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – Recognizing one of the most impressive groups of scholar-athletes in the history of college football, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) named Mississippi State senior linebacker Richie Brown a semifinalist Wednesday for the 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy. The honor recognizes the best football scholar-athlete in the nation.

Brown graduated this past spring with a degree in industrial technology, earning a 3.52 GPA in the process. The three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration from the prestigious MSU MBA School.

The Long Beach, Mississippi, native has collected nearly 100 community service hours across over 30 events, with organizations such as the Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Starkville Humane Society and MSU’s T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability. Brown has also helped with local food drives, read to elementary schools around Starkville and provided tornado relief to people of Louisville, Mississippi.

On the field, Brown serves as a team captain for the Bulldogs and has played in 43 games and made 17 starts. He has also amassed 225 tackles and 19.5 tackles for loss in his career. Brown is also on the watch lists for the Nagurski Trophy and Butkus Award.

The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Nov. 1, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 2016 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, presented by Fidelity. One of the finalists will be named the winner of the William V. Campbell Trophy at the 59th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 6 in New York City, and his postgraduate scholarship will be increased to $25,000.

Since 2010, MSU is tied for the SEC lead in number of NFF National Scholar-Athletes produced with two. Last year, Taveze Calhoun was a finalist for the Campbell Trophy and a National Scholar-Athlete. He was the only one selected in the SEC in 2015.

Candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The class is selected each year by the NFF Awards Committee, which is comprised of a nationally recognized group of media, College Football Hall of Famers and athletics administrators.