IRVING, Texas -- Minnesota State Moorhead senior quarterback Jack Strand has been announced as one of 16 finalists for the William V. Campbell Trophy®, the nation's premier scholar-athlete award. Strand was named a member of the 2025 National Football Foundation (NFF) National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments® with Strand receiving an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship. 

Strand becomes the first Dragon since Bart Johnson (1998) to be named a Campbell Trophy® Finalist. Strand and Johnson are the only student-athletes in program history to earn NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class distinction. The Bloomer, Wis., native is one of two NCAA Division II finalists and is the first NSIC finalist since Minnesota State's Alex Goettle in 2019. 

There is no shortage of words that can be used to define Strand's career, but it can be summed up as historic, transformational and brimming with success. Strand holds every major passing record in school history (career and single-season) and is working his way up numerous NCAA Division II all-time lists. The senior has passed for 11,908 yards so far in his career to go along with 108 passing touchdowns and 1,139 completions. Strand has been accurate, despite his high volume of reps, clipping a lifetime completion percentage of 63 percent. On the field, Strand has helped the Dragons to back-to-back winning seasons and a 5-2 start to the 2025 campaign. Strand helped lead the Dragons to their first-ever ranked victories over Minnesota Duluth and Augustana during the 2024 season.

The accolades no doubt cement Strand as possibly the best player in MSUM football history. Strand is a three-time All-NSIC performer, including earning NSIC Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2023. The quarterback is a two-time Don Hansen Gazette All-America performer while gathering D2Football.com Elite 100 'Squad' honors. Strand has been a Harlon Hill nominee the past two seasons, becoming the first player in Dragon football history to be included in Harlon Hill voting. His certificates do not end there as Strand has consistently been a high-acheiving academic, holding a 3.87 cumulative GPA as an engineering physics major. Strand is a two-time NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence selection while also earning CSC Academic All-District honors twice. In 2024, Strand was named a CSC Second Team Academic All-American. 

Strand's scholarship award, the E. Doug Kenna Scholar-Athlete Award, was endowed in 1997. E. Douglas Kenna quarterbacked the 1944 Army team to the national championship. He was also an All-America basketball player at West Point, captained the tennis team, and was Class President and Regimental Commander. After serving America in Germany, he returned to be one of Col. Earl Blaik's assistant coaches before entering the business world. He held several executive positions, including president and director of Carrier Corporation, G.L. Ohrstrom & Company, Roper Industries and Robert B. Anderson Company. A College Football Hall of Fame inductee, Kenna served as NFF vice chairman from 1986-91.

Strand and the other finalists will be honored Tuesday, December 9 at the 67th Annual NFF Awards Dinner at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. The 16 finalists were narrowed down from an original field of 180 seminfinalist from across the NCAA and NAIA. 

"Each year, we are thrilled to announce the finalists for the Campbell Trophy®," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, whose sons Peyton (a Campbell Trophy® recipient) and Eli were NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "These finalists exemplify the very best that our sport has to offer on the field, in the classroom and as leaders in their communities. They exude excellence in all areas of their lives, and we know they have only begun to reach their potential."
 
Live during the event, one member of the class will be declared as the winner of the 36th Campbell Trophy® and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000. Click here for more information on the Awards Dinner, including options to purchase tickets online, special travel rates to the event from Delta Air Lines, and room rates at the Bellagio.

"The NFF Awards Committee faced a challenging task in selecting the best of the best from an already impressive list of candidates this year," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "We're thrilled to shine our spotlight on this group of finalists as they serve without question as an inspiration for the next generation to emulate. We look forward to celebrating their achievements at our event in December and supporting their continued development with postgraduate scholarships."

Submitted by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the Campbell Trophy® must be either a senior player who will complete his final year of eligibility during the 2025 season or be a graduated player or grad transfer who has already earned a bachelor's degree and participating in the 2025 season; must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale; must have outstanding football ability as a starter/significant contributor; and must have exhibited exemplary leadership on the field, in the classroom and within the community.

Following the 67th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas, the recipient of the 2025 Campbell Trophy® will be honored at several other prestigious events. On Friday, Dec. 12, he will be featured during "The Home Depot College Football Awards" on ESPN. Then, on Monday, Dec. 15, a reception will be held in his honor at the New York Athletic Club (NYAC), the official home of the trophy since 2013.

Launched in 1959, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards Presented by Fidelity Investments celebrate their 67th year in 2025. The awards were the first initiative in history to grant postgraduate scholarships based on both a player's academic and athletic accomplishments. Since 2011, Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of workplace savings plans in higher education, has served as the presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards.

As part of its support of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, Fidelity Investments helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes, which recognize the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives at each of the institutions with a finalist for the Campbell Trophy®. The NFF presents each of the faculty athletics representatives with a plaque, and Fidelity donates $5,000 for the academic support services at each school. The salutes have recognized 214 FARs since the program's inception, and Fidelity has made a total of $1.07 million (including $80,000 this year) in donations.

Including the 2025 Campbell Trophy® finalists, the NFF has honored 954 individuals with National Scholar-Athlete Awards, and this year's postgraduate scholarships will push the program's all-time distribution to more than $13.2 million. 

Past recipients have used their postgraduate scholarships to set the standard for excellence in our society, earning more than 177 medical degrees, 108 law degrees, 83 MBAs and 46 PhDs. Others have used their financial backing to enhance successful careers in finance, consulting and engineering. Continuing their excellence on the field, more than 274 recipients have played in the NFL, with an average career of six seasons or double the length of a typical NFL player. Past recipients also include 13 Rhodes Scholars and six Heisman Trophy winners.

Past NFF National Scholar-Athletes have made it big in a variety of fields, including actor and film producer Mark Harmon (UCLA); Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans (Alabama); NASA astronauts Leland Melvin (Richmond) and Michael Hopkins (Illinois); and current athletics directors: Trev Alberts (Texas A&M) and Josh Whitman (Illinois). NFF National Scholar-Athletes who became NFL stars include Drew Brees, Derek Carr, Kirk Cousins, Doug Flutie, Joey Galloway, Brian Griese, Justin Herbert, Jeff Hostetler, Bradie James, Tyler Lockett, Alex Mack, Johnny Musso, Bo Nix, Ryan Tannehill, Joe Thomas, Jonathan Vilma,Wesley Walls and Christian Wilkins, among many others.

A total of 49 former National Scholar-Athletes have been inducted into the NFF College Football Hall of Fame and nine are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well: Tony Boselli (Southern California), Derrick Brooks (Florida State), Dave Casper (Notre Dame), Randy Gradishar(Ohio State), Peyton Manning (Tennessee), Merlin Olsen (Utah State), Lee Roy Selmon(Oklahoma), Joe Thomas (Wisconsin) and Steve Young (BYU). Click here for a database of all the past NFF National Scholar-Athletes.

The Campbell Trophy®, first awarded in 1990 to Air Force's Chris Howard, has added to the program's prestige. Past recipients include two Rhodes Scholars, a Rhodes Scholar finalist, two Heisman Trophy winners and nine first-round NFL draft picks. For the complete list of former winners, please click here.

The trophy is named in honor of the late Bill Campbell, an All-Ivy League player and the captain of Columbia's 1961 Ivy League championship team who found his true calling after an unlikely career change at age 39 from Columbia football coach to advertising executive. His ability to recruit, develop and manage talented executives – all lessons learned on the gridiron – proved to be a critical component of his ability to inspire his business teams to the highest levels of success.

As the CEO and chairman of Intuit, Campbell's strong leadership and unique talent in building teams allowed him to become one of the most influential individuals in Silicon Valley. Using the lessons of the gridiron he mentored Steve Jobs of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Sundar Pichai and Eric Schmidt of Google, Scott Cook and Brad Smith of Intuit, John Doerr of Kleiner-Perkins, Dick Costolo at Twitter, Diane Greene of VMware and countless others. His contributions have been captured in a book titled "The Trillion Dollar Coach," and during his lifetime, he affectionately became known as the "Coach of Silicon Valley."

Campbell joined the NFF Board in 1978 while he was still a coach at Columbia, and he continued to serve with distinction until his passing in 2016. In 2004, the NFF recognized Campbell's contributions and accomplishments by presenting him with the NFF Gold Medal, the organization's highest honor. In 2009, the NFF renamed college football's premier scholar-athlete award as The William V. Campbell Trophy® as an inspiration to future generations.