NFF Release
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Saint John's University senior quarterback Chris Backes (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) was named one of the 176 semifinalists for the 2021 William V. Campbell Trophy Presented by Mazda and is a candidate for the 2021 National Football Foundation (NFF) Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments.
The NFF and College Football Hall of Fame made the announcement Wednesday, Sept. 29.
Backes is one of 39 football student-athletes from NCAA Division III and one of two from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) to be nominated for the Campbell Trophy. Bethel quarterback Jaran Roste is the other.
Since 1995, 20 Johnnies have been nominated for the Campbell Trophy. SJU is the lone program out of the 672 NCAA schools to have nominated a Campbell Trophy scholar-athlete each of the past 19 seasons.
The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation, and up to 14 of the candidates will be named recipients of a prestigious NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award. 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 eligibility (this criteria was relaxed for 2021 due to the impact of COVID-19 on the 2020 season), 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 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, members of the College Football Hall of Fame and athletics administrators.
Launched in 1959, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete program awards $18,000 scholarships that can be used for the honorees' postgraduate education. SJU has produced three NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award winners: linebacker Carter Hanson '17 (2016), linebacker Matt Hawn '06 (2005) and wide receiver Chris Palmer '96 (1995).
The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Oct. 27 and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments. One of the finalists will be named the winner of the 32nd Campbell Trophy during the 63rd NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 7 and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.
An economics major with a 3.98 GPA, Backes was selected to the 22-man, 2020 Allstate American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Good Works Team and earned the 2018 and 2019 MIAC Elite 22 Award for having the highest cumulative GPA among the conference's top two teams at the end of the regular season.
The three-time Academic All-MIAC honoree (minimum 3.5 GPA) has played in each of SJU's last 30 games as the team's holder on field goals and PAT's and appeared in 18 games at quarterback. Backes has a 191.4 career pass-efficiency rating (20 of 28 passing for 282 yards and three touchdowns), as well as 172 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 36 career carries.
Off the field, Backes is in his fifth year volunteering for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as a member of the SJU football team. He was strictly a fundraiser as a freshman and sophomore (2017-18), was a board member in 2019 and is in his second season as the recruitment director (2020, 2021). Backes spearheaded SJU football's 2019 fundraising effort for St. Jude's, where the team raised over $38,000, and visited the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Nashville in summer 2019.
He has also volunteered for SJU Football's Tackle Cancer initiative each season as a member of the team. The Johnnies have raised $82,000 over the last five seasons for Tackle Cancer, including over $25,000 in 2019, which benefits the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund in Minnesota.
Backes was a member of SJU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in 2019-20 and served as the organization's president in 2020-21. SJU's SAAC meets monthly to help plan events for Special Olympics and to organize fundraising efforts for Kids Fighting Hunger, SJU's annual meal-packing event during Lent. In addition to SJU's meal-packing event, Backes also volunteered at the local No Kid Hungry meal-packing event, through Kids Fighting Hunger, at the local St. Cloud Convention Center in January 2017 and January 2020.
Backes is a member of OIKOS, SJU's Economics Honor Society, which organizes several conversations on the economics of a current event or topic each semester during the academic year and regularly sponsors other events related to economics. He also volunteered at the Church of St. Joseph's (St. Joseph, Minn.) local fish fry during Lent and for its annual Thanksgiving meal in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
SJU's Campbell Trophy Nominees/Honorees Since 1995
2021 - Quarterback Chris Backes '21
2020 - Quarterback Chris Backes '21
2019 - Quarterback Jackson Erdmann '19
2018 - Wide Receiver Will Gillach '19
2017 - Linebacker David Franta '18
2016 - Linebacker Carter Hanson '17 (Finalist and NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award recipient)
2015 - Linebacker Drake Matuska '16
2014 - Tight End J.T. Ford '15
2013 - Defensive Back Dylan Graves '14
2012 - Running Back Stephen Johnson '13
2011 - Defensive Back Andrew Rotschafer '11
2010 - Offensive Lineman Jeff Gilbertson '11
2009 - Defensive Back Dominic Haik '10
2008 - Running Back Jeff Schnobrich '09
2007 - Defensive Back John Cloeter '08
2006 - Linebacker Jamie Steffensmeier '06
2005 - Linebacker Matt Hawn '06 (Finalist and NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award recipient)
2004 - Linebacker Paul Gans '05
2003 - Wide Receiver Blake Elliott '03
2002 - No Nominee
2001 - Tight End/Punter Zach McBroom '02
1996-2000 - No Nominee
1995 - Wide Receiver Chris Palmer '96 (Finalist and NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award recipient)
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September 29, 2021 at 10:04PM
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SJU's Backes Nominated Again for NFF's Campbell Trophy - Saint John's University Athletics
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