IRVING, Texas -- University of Dayton senior safety David Leisring has been named a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame's William V. Campbell Trophy®.

Sometimes referred to as "The Academic Heisman," the Campbell Trophy is one of college football's most sought-after awards. The Campbell Trophy recognizes a student-athlete who best exemplifies academic success alongside football performance and community leadership. 

The award recognizes this individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.

A three-year starter, Leisring has 12 career interceptions, which tie him for second among active FCS football players.  He is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American (second team in 2016, first team in 2017).  A preseason First Team All-Pioneer Football League selection, he led the Flyers in tackles (87), interceptions (4) and passes defensed (11) in 2017.

This season, he is once again Dayton's leading tackler (30 in four games), with two interceptions and three passes batted away, which are also team highs.  His 0.5 picks per game are tied for first in the PFL.

Off the field, the Cincinnati St. Xavier graduate is Vice-President of UD Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.  His involvement with SAAC began in his freshman year as a team representative, and in his four-year service he has helped coordinate community service projects including Breast Cancer 5K Walk, Anti-Bullying Rally, Olympic Day with Blairwood Elementary, the Miami Valley Down Syndrome Association's Buddy Walk.

Academically, Leisring is Finance major with a 3.74 GPA.  He is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma society (awarded to top 10% of his class in UD's business school) and is enrolled in the University's Honors Program.  He participated in a School of Business Study "Sustainability in Southern India," in Kochi, India between semesters in 2017-18.

He was an FCS Athletics Directors Association Academic All-Star in 2017.  This season, he is the only FCS player named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy's Watch List.  Just five of the 42 players named to the Lott IMPACT Watch List are also Campbell Trophy semifinalists.  The others are Zack Allen of Boston College, Christian Wilkins of Clemson. Ben Humphries of Duke and Drue Tranquill of Notre Dame.

Leisring is one of 179 semifinalists from all levels of college football, and one of 40 nominees from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Davidson's Nathan Campbell, Drake's Nathan Clayberg, Jacksonville's Nic Duch and San Diego's Anthony Lawrence join Leisring as one of five student-athletes from the Pioneer Football League.

UD has had at least a semifinalist for 13 straight years. Jack Crain was last year's honoree.  The others are Chris Beaschler (2016), Danny Leach (2015), Will Bardo (2014), Colin Monnier (2013), Bill Petraiuolo (2012), Devon Langhorst (2011), Brandon Wingeier (2010), Sean Heenan (2009), Bart Bergfeld (2008), Brandon Cramer (2007) and Brandon Godsey (2006).  

Two of Dayton's semifinalists also advanced to be finalists for the award and attended the NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City – Brandon Cramer in 2007 and Chris Beaschler in 2016.

Dayton is the only PFL team to even have four consecutive semifinalists (San Diego has three). Among Division I schools, the Flyers are one of just two institutions with a semifinalist in the last 13 years. Bucknell is the other school with that proud distinction. 

Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the award must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of 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.

"These 179 impressive candidates truly represent the scholar-athlete ideal," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, whose sons Peyton (Campbell Trophy® winner) and Eli were named NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "For 60 years, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete program has showcased more than 800 college football players who have been successful on the football field, in the classroom and in the community. This year's semifinalists further illustrate the power of our great sport in developing the next generation of influential leaders."

The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Oct. 31, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 60th NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class. The finalists will travel to New York City for the 61st NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 4, where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. Live during the event, one member of the class will be declared as the winner of the 29th William V. Campbell Trophy® and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.

Named in honor of the late Bill Campbell, former chairman of Intuit, former player and head coach at Columbia University and the 2004 recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal, the Campbell Trophy® is a 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the amount of the recipient's grant by $7,000 for a total postgraduate scholarship of $25,000. This year's postgraduate scholarships will push the program's all-time distribution to more than $11.5 million.

Launched in 1959, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program is celebrating its 60th year in 2018. The awards were the first initiative in history to grant postgraduate scholarships based on both a player's academic and athletic accomplishments, and the NFF has recognized 841 outstanding individuals since their inception. The Campbell Trophy®, first awarded in 1990, adds to the program's prestige, having previously honored two Rhodes Scholars, a Rhodes Scholar finalist, two Heisman Trophy winners and five first-round NFL draft picks.

Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of workplace savings plans in higher education, serves as a proud partner of the Campbell Trophy® and the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards. Since 2013, the Campbell Trophy® has been prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club.

Fidelity also helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes, which recognize the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives at each of the institutions with a Campbell Trophy® finalist/NFF National Scholar-Athlete. As part of the initiative, the NFF presents each of the faculty representatives with a plaque, and Fidelity donates $5,000 for the academic support services at each school with a total of $505,000 distributed from 2011-17.  UD's Dr. Kim Trick was one of the honorees in the spring of 2017.

The past recipients of The William V. Campbell Trophy® include: Air Force's Chris Howard (1990); Ohio State's Bobby Hoying (1995); Florida's Danny Wuerffel (1996); Tennessee's Peyton Manning (1997); Ohio State's Craig Krenzel (2003); Tennessee's Michael Munoz (2004); Florida's Tim Tebow (2009); Army West Point's Andrew Rodriguez (2011); Alabama's Barrett Jones (2012); Oklahoma's Ty Darlington (2015); Western Michigan's Zach Terrell (2016); and Virginia's Micah Kiser (2017).