Macklin Ayers Named Semifinalist for Campbell Trophy

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth football linebacker Macklin Ayers has been named as one of the 201 semifinalists for the 2023 William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes the top football scholar-athlete in the nation. The 201 players are the most ever, surpassing the 199 in 2000, and come from all levels of college football, both NCAA and NAIA, with 89 coming from the FBS and 39 more from the FCS, including one from each Ivy League institution.

The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Oct. 25, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class. The finalists will travel to Las Vegas for the 65th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 5, where their accomplishments will be highlighted. Live during the event, one member of the class will be declared as the winner of the 34th William V. Campbell Trophy and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.

Ayers, a senior majoring in sociology modified with environmental science, entered this fall with a 3.81 GPA. He led the Ivy League in tackles per game in 2022, ranking 13th nationally as well at 10.0 per game. The native of Elizabethville, Pennsylvania, racked up at least 10 tackles in five of the eight games he played, including a career-high 16 against eventual Ivy League champion Yale. An Academic All-Ivy League selection and member of the College Sports Communicators (CSC, formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District I Team, Ayers is one of the four captains for the Big Green this season. After two games this fall, he leads the team with 14 tackles and a pair of pass breakups, plus has one sack.

Named in honor of the late Bill Campbell, former chairman of Intuit, former player and head coach at Columbia University and the 2004 recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal, the Campbell Trophy is a 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the amount of the recipient's grant by $7,000 for a total postgraduate scholarship of $25,000. This year's postgraduate scholarships will push the program's all-time distribution to more than $12.6 million.

Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of playing 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.

Six Dartmouth players have been chosen as finalists for the NFF Scholar-Athlete Class — Alan Rozycki (1960), Willie Bogan (1970), Fred Radke (1972), Pat Sullivan (1976), Paul Sorensen (1988) and Josh Bloom (1994).

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