Proehl Named To Wuerffel Trophy Watch List

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. --- The Wuerffel Trophy announced its watch list of a record 109 players from college football's Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Tuesday, and North Carolina senior Austin Proehl is among the candidates.

A recipient of the ACC Top Six Award for Service in 2016, Proehl is an active member of the Chapel Hill community. On Friday's before every home football game, he visits the UNC Children's Hospital. He makes an effort to follow-up with patients he meets on these trips and also organizes multiple visits with his teammates to the UNC Children's and UNC Bone Marrow Unit.

Proehl is also a frequent visitor to local elementary schools, where he has participated in school read-a-thons, field days, and mentored students in need. Proehl has participated in the UNC Pen Pal Program for the past three years, and he goes out of his way to make these students feel special, allowing them to come visit a practice or giving them a tour of the UNC Football center. Proehl has also participated in other community service programs such as Habitat for Humanity and the Share Your Holiday family adoption program.

The Wuerffel Trophy, known as "College Football's Premier Award for Community Service," is presented annually by the All Sports Association in Fort Walton Beach Florida. Named after 1996 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel from the University of Florida, the Wuerffel Trophy is awarded to the FBS player that best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.

Voting for the Wuerffel Trophy is performed by a National Selection Committee that includes college football television and print media, industry notables, former head coaches and prior Wuerffel Trophy recipients.

Nominations for the Wuerffel Trophy are made by the respective universities' Sports Information departments and will close on October 13. A current list of nominees can be found at www.wuerffeltrophy.org beginning August 1. Semifinalists for the award will be announced on Nov. 2 and finalists will be announced on November 22.

The formal announcement of the 2017 recipient will be made at the National Football Foundation's press conference in New York City on December 5.
The presentation of the 2017 Wuerffel Trophy will occur at the 49th Annual All Sports Association Awards Banquet on February 16, 2018 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Past winners of the Wuerffel Trophy are: Rudy Niswanger (LSU-2005), Joel Penton (Ohio State-2006), Paul Smith (Tulsa-2007), Tim Tebow (Florida-2008), Tim Hiller (W. Michigan-2009), Sam Acho (Texas-2010), Barrett Jones (Alabama-2011), Matt Barkley (USC-2012), Gabe Ikard (Oklahoma-2013), Deterrian Shackelford (Ole Miss-2014), Ty Darlington (Oklahoma-2015) and Trevor Knight (Texas A&M-2016).

The Wuerffel Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 23 awards boast more than 800 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit www.NCFAA.org to learn more about our story.

Players Mentioned

Austin Proehl

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