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Najee Harris Named to SEC Football Community Service Team

The senior is among 14 student-athletes honored by the league for superior service efforts

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama running back Najee Harris has been named to the 2020 Southeastern Conference Football Community Service team, the league office announced Thursday morning.

Harris has worked tirelessly to improve on his academics while continuing to put forth a consistent effort in the community. Most recently, Harris established himself as a vocal leader during the team’s social justice movement and has become one of the main voices for the Alabama football team and University’s push towards a more unified campus. He has also been an active member in the Tuscaloosa community, recording nearly 50 hours of community service, highlighted by his volunteer efforts with the Alberta Head Start Unity Project, where he serves as a positive role model for children.

The SEC names a Community Service Team for each of its 21-league sponsored sports, looking to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to his community through superior service efforts.

The 2020 SEC Football Community Service Team is as follows:

Grant Morgan, Arkansas
Grant Morgan has been a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for four years. He has served as Vice-President of SAAC and is a member of the SEC Leadership Council for Football. Morgan wrote letters to front line COVID-19 workers for Arkansas Children's Hospital. He also participated in a Zoom chat with the Fayetteville Boys and Girls Club kids and donated game day memorabilia to a Type 1 diabetes elementary school student. In addition, Morgan led a community engagement initiative with the football team to sign and deliver a poster to the family of a freshman college student who passed away on his drive to Fayetteville for a game.

Eli Stove, Auburn
Eli Stove held free youth football skills camps for kids in his hometown of Niceville, Fla. He also participated in the Auburn Give Back Community Service Day helping volunteer with tornado clean up in nearby Beauregard, Ala. In addition, Stove attended an FCA Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic in the summer of 2019.

Randy Russell, Florida
Randy Russell is a medically-disqualified (heart) student-athlete at Florida. Though he is unable to touch the field, Russell continues to use his platform as a way to serve his teammates, his school and his community. Russell has served more than 30 hours in the summer and fall of 2020 in both community service and leadership roles. He played a part in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Drive-Thru Food Drive where Russell and fellow student-athletes collected over 200 pounds of food. The food that was collected was sorted and then donated to the Field and Fork Pantry on campus that supports UF students, faculty, and staff.

Azeez Ojulari, Georgia
Azeez Ojulari's community service activities include visits to Camp Sunshine, a facility which provides recreational, educational and support programs for children with cancer and their families, a visit to patients at the Children's Health Care Hospital facilities in Atlanta and a visit to patients at Ochsner Hospital for Children in New Orleans. Ojulari also participated in a Zoom call to a local elementary school

to encourage the students and make sure they are keeping current with their work. He volunteered to engage in a series that develops high school student-athletes into leaders who succeed in sports, business, philanthropy and life.

Luke Fortner, Kentucky
Luke Fortner was named a semifinalist for the Danny Wuerffel Trophy, given to the top community servant in college football. He worked with Toyota Manufacturing engineers in the "Lift Them Up" program, designing and building a push-cart vehicle that enabled a patient from Kentucky Children's Hospital to accompany the team on the pregame "Cat Walk" and attend a game at Kroger Field. Fortner also made an impact at the Children's Hospital through "Tuesdays With the Wildcats," visiting patients at the hospital. During COVID-19 he continued the program with "In the Huddle With KCH," filming videos in which he answered questions posed by the young patients.

JaCoby Stevens, LSU
JaCoby Stevens started a team-wide initiative that resulted in every player on the LSU football team registering to vote during the summer of 2020. He spent time volunteering to help load trucks that brought supplies to Southwest Louisiana after two Hurricanes devastated the area in August of 2020. Stevens also helped organize and spoke at a Unity Walk on the LSU campus in September of 2020. He has served as a speaker at local elementary and middle schools in early 2020 before the pandemic.

Mac Brown, Ole Miss
Mac Brown has raised more than $101,000 for ALS research through the Awesome Lemonade Stand that he started in the seventh grade for a childhood friend's father who had been diagnosed with ALS. He has participated in many community service activities around the Oxford and Mississippi area including: Sweetheart for residents at The Blake in Oxford, Reading with the Rebels, Hope to Dream and the Special Olympics. Brown was a nominee for the Wuerffel Trophy for second straight year.

Kobe Jones, Mississippi State
Kobe Jones' community service activities include serving as a Starkville Cowboys volunteer and with the Starkville High School football program. He has represented Mississippi State on the SEC Football Leadership Council and participated in the Black Student Athlete Summit. Jones has been an active voice for the program regarding social justice and racial equality. After the Mississippi state legislature approved a change in the state flag this summer, voters across the state approved a new design just days before Mississippi State's game against Vanderbilt. Jones was chosen to lead the team out of the tunnel as the first football student-athlete in the state to carry the new banner onto the field.

Nick Bolton, Missouri
Nick Bolton is heavily involved in the community in Mid-Missouri as part of the #Mizzou4Change movement, which attempts to bring to light the social injustices facing our country. He has been a part of a pair of unity marches, one in June that resulted in the registering of close to 60 teammates to vote, and another during fall training camp to help bring awareness to the Black Lives Matter movement. Bolton is also involved in Mizzou's Care Portal Program, which attempts to combat the issues facing our nation's foster care system by providing funds to the care systems throughout the nation.

Spencer Eason-Riddle, South Carolina
Spencer Eason-Riddle is the first Gamecock to make the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. He was named the Male Gamecock Leadership Award winner at the school's 2020 all-sports gala, and the former walk-on puts in extensive hours each year in volunteer work. Most notably, he has been a regular at both the Dorn VA Medical Center and at the oncology center of the Prisma Health Children's Hospital. Most recently, he has worked with the Backpack Project for WG Sanders Middle School and a Christmas Card Project for Prisma Health Children's Hospital. During his career, Eason-Riddle has balanced his academics and athletics schedule while also performing more than 200 hours of community service.

Trey Smith, Tennessee
Trey Smith has served as the team leader in community service during his career. He led the team on a peaceful protest in Knoxville on June 5, 2020 stressing unity. In August 2020, Smith helped organize an athletic-department wide march against racism that drew hundreds. Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, on Halloween 2020, he and group of teammates made a successful visit to the Boys & Girls Club in Knoxville. The group also created Halloween baskets for kids at East Tennessee Children's Hospital. In December 2018, he used his platform to spearhead a coat drive for KARM and helped them meet their goal of obtaining 10,000 coats for the needy.

Kellen Mond, Texas A&M
Kellen Mond has spoken to several local schools about importance of staying in school, doing your best and staying away from alcohol and drugs. Has volunteered with Twin City Mission, serving meals, cleaning facilities. Has volunteered with Salvation Army, worked with Boys and Girls Clubs in San Antonio and in Bryan. Mond has also assisted with San Antonio Food Bank and participated in Adopt a Family program in San Antonio to provide gifts at Christmas.

Andre Mintze, Vanderbilt
Andre Mintze has given back to the Vanderbilt community primarily through his annual Dancing Dores philanthropy program, a partnership between Dance Marathon, which is an organization that raises funds for the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt's Athletic Department. All revenue generated goes to the hospital. The effort has raised more than $40,000 in last two years. For his efforts, Mintze was the 2020 Vanderbilt Athletics Godfrey Dillard Courage Award recipient, presented annually since 2016-17 to the Commodore who overcomes adversity on or off the field, honoring the legacy of Godfrey Dillard