MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State placed a Big 12-leading and school-record 17 football seniors from the 2023 season on the National Football Foundation (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society list, the NFF has announced.
K-State’s 17-man list also ranked third nationally behind only Nebraska (21) and California (19), and the Wildcats had six more than the next closest Big 12 team, BYU (11).
The 17 Wildcats to earn the honor were Cooper Beebe, Anthony Frias II, Jace Friesen, Will Howard, Justice James, KT Leveston, Matthew Maschmeier, Nate Matlack, Austin Moore, Christian Moore, Brendan Mott, Beau Palmer, Erik Pizarro, Randen Plattner, Sam Shields, Ben Sinnott and Cody Stufflebean, as they were members of an elite group of 1,988 players from 339 schools across all NCAA divisions and the NAIA who qualified for membership in the Society’s 18th year.
“We are thrilled to honor a record number of athletes as part of this year’s Hampshire Honor Society,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “Over the last 18 years, the Hampshire Honor Society has served as a powerful vehicle for schools to recognize their college football players who have distinguished themselves both academically and athletically, and we congratulate the schools and each of these young men for their commitment to excellence in all aspects of their lives.”
Nominated by their respective schools, members of the NFF Hampshire Honor Society must be either a senior player who will graduate this spring/summer and just completed his final year of playing eligibility in 2023 or a graduated player who has been out of high school at least (3) years. The candidates must have attained a minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale and been starters or contributors throughout the 2023 season.
The NFF Hampshire Honor Society capitalizes on the NFF’s National Scholar-Athlete program by greatly expanding the number of scholar-athletes the NFF can recognize each year. The program further strengthens the organization’s leadership role in encouraging academic performance by the student-athletes at the 772 colleges and universities with football programs nationwide.
All 19 Wildcats named to the Hampshire Honor Society earned First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors this past season, while Beebe was named a finalist for the NFF’s William V. Campbell Trophy, college football’s premier scholar-athlete award that annually recognizes an individual as the absolute best in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership. Beebe was also named the Big 12 Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while he and Sinnott were First Team Academic All-America performers.