IRVING, Texas (Sept. 25, 2014) - On Thursday, red-shirt senior quarterback Steven Laurino (Boise, Idaho) of the LIU Post football team was selected as a semifinalist for the prestigious 2014 William V. Campbell Trophy by the National Football Foundation. He was one of just 25 student-athletes to be recognized from the Division II level.

The Campbell Trophy honors an individual as the top football scholar-athlete in the nation, and up to 16 of the candidates will be named recipients of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award, presented by Fidelity Investments. In all, a total of 167 student-athletes from the gridiron, spanning the FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III and the NAIA, were chosen.

Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one candidate each, the nominee must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, boast a grade-point average of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first-team player or significant contributor, and demonstrate strong leadership and citizenship.

Laurino, who holds a cumulative GPA of 3.71 in History Education, has pioneered the LIU Post offense since 2011. Over the course of 31 career starts, he has completed 588-of-992 passes for 6,619 yards and 59 touchdowns. The Boise product has scampered for 1,607 net yards and 16 TD's all-time as well.

Additionally, Laurino continues to set the bar at a high level for those that follow him. He has shattered the program's career records for total offense (8,226 yards), completions, touchdown passes, and most recently, passing yards, which was broken on Sept. 13 in a 38-33 win over New Haven at home. A 12-yard completion to Kamron Palmer (Brooklyn, N.Y.) put Laurino past former record-holder Rob Blount (6,361 yards).

"This is an outstanding honor, a well-deserved honor for Steven Laurino to be recognized for not only what he does athletically, but for the pride he takes of being a whole student-athlete," said Head Coach Bryan Collins (Sayville, N.Y.). "We are proud of the man Steven has become, and look forward to the many weeks ahead, as he pursues a great finish to his collegiate career. We know by this recognition and honor, his success will go far and beyond his college days into his personal and professional life."

The NFF Awards Committee will now select up to 16 recipients of an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship that will vie for the Campbell Trophy. Each member of the 2014 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class will also be honored on Dec. 9 at the 57th NFF Annual Awards Dinner, set to be held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.

Former recipients of the William V. Campbell Trophy include: Florida's Daunte Culpepper (1991), Danny Wuerffel (1996) and Tim Tebow (2009), Tennesse's Peyton Manning (1997), Marshall's Chad Pennington (1999), Nebraska's Kyle Vanden Bosch (2000) and Penn State's John Urschel (2013).

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