Florida quarterback Tim Tebow (Jacksonville, Fla.) is one of 30 football student-athletes tabbed as candidates for the 2009 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, as announced on Wednesday.

 

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior in the Football Bowl Subdivision and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – classroom, character, community and competition.  An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School™, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

 

The 2009 candidates include student-athletes from 13 teams ranked in the Associated Press preseason top-25 poll. There are five AP All-Americans, one American Football Coaches Association All-American, one member from the AFCA’s Allstate Good Works Team and one former Heisman Trophy winner. In addition, three candidates were named to last year’s CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American team and five student-athletes have maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.8 or better, including two who have recorded perfect 4.0 GPAs in their careers.

 

Last year, the University of Florida made history becoming the only school to claim winners in two sports. Brandon McArthur (baseball) and Stacey Nelson (softball) each took home the award in 2008.

 

This marks the second year for the football division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. In 2008, Ohio State University linebacker James Laurinaitis took home the inaugural football award.

 

Lowe’s will announce the Senior CLASS Award winner in early January. The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition.

 

 

2009 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award Football Candidates

Name                           Pos.     School

Mike Anello                   CB        University of Notre Dame

Javier Arenas               CB        University of Alabama

Zane Beadles               OT        University of Utah

Richie Brockel               FB        Boise State University

Antonio Coleman         DE        Auburn University

Eric Decker                   WR       University of Minnesota

Auston English                         DE        University of Oklahoma

Kurtis Gregory              OL        University of Missouri

Nnamdi Gwacham        WR       Utah State University

Moses Harris                S          Fresno State University

Tim Hiller                      QB        Western Michigan University

Jerry Hughes                DE        TCU

Jammie Kirlew              DE        Indiana University

Sean Lee                     LB        Pennsylvania State University

Dan LeFevour              QB        Central Michigan University

Andrew Lewis              OL        Oklahoma State University

Trevard Lindley            CB        University of Kentucky

Taylor Mays                  S          University of Southern California

Colt McCoy                   QB        University of Texas

Zoltan Mesko               P          University of Michigan

Mike Nixon                   LB        Arizona State University

Eric Norwood               LB        University of South Carolina

Joe Pawelek                 LB        Baylor University

George Selvie              DE        University of South Florida

Andrew Sendejo          S          Rice University

Darrell Stuckey             S          University of Kansas

Tim Tebow                  QB       University of Florida

Syd'Quan Thompson    CB        University of California, Berkeley

Reed Williams              LB        West Virginia University

Ryan Wolfe                  WR       University of Nevada-Las Vegas

 

-UF-