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Iowa football: Parker Hesse named semifinalist for William V. Campbell Trophy

By Andrew Wade

IOWA CITY, IOWA- SEPTEMBER 01: Defensive end Parker Hesse #40 of the Iowa Hawkeyes gets a sack during the second half on quarterback Marcus Childers #15 of the Northern Illinois Huskies on September 1, 2018 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
IOWA CITY, IOWA- SEPTEMBER 01: Defensive end Parker Hesse #40 of the Iowa Hawkeyes gets a sack during the second half on quarterback Marcus Childers #15 of the Northern Illinois Huskies on September 1, 2018 at Kinnick Stadium, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /
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Senior Parker Hesse is an outstanding leader for the Iowa football team, and today he was named a semifinalist for a prestigious academic award.

Parker Hesse is in his fifth year in the Iowa football program as a redshirt senior, and he has racked up quite an impressive list of honors so far. He can add one more to that list.

Today it was announced that Hesse is a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy. Parker Hesse is 1 of 179 nominees vying for the $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and the ultimate recognition as the nations premier student-athlete. The guidelines for nomination are intense and as follows according to the release:

"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"

Hesse earned his undergraduate degree in the spring of 2017 in Biology and has been named Academic All-Big Ten three times in his Iowa football career. Athletically, he has also received recognition for his work on the field. He was named to the Big Ten Conference All-Freshman Team as a freshman and received Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors as a sophomore.

Furthermore, he has received the team hustle award on defense twice and started 37 games for Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa football program. He has continued this on-field dominance this season. In week one Hesse was named to the PFF’s week one Team of the Week and was named one of our standout performers after his impressive season debut against NIU.

For the season, Hesse has 17 tackles and two sacks. His career totals through four games in 2018 are 141 tackles and 12 sacks for the Waukon, Iowa native.

In two weeks we will find out of Hesse is named a finalist for this prestigious award, but regardless of the outcome, it’s an honor for Hesse to even make the list. As a Hawkeye fan, I am proud to see a guy like Hesse representing the Iowa football program.