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Oklahoma WR Drake Stoops a Semifinalist for 'Academic Heisman'

The former walk-on wide receiver has eight receptions for 90 yards and a touchdown for the Sooners so far this season.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma WR Drake Stoops a Semifinalist for 'Academic Heisman'
Oklahoma WR Drake Stoops a Semifinalist for 'Academic Heisman'

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Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma fans already know Drake Stoops is a baller. But he’s also a scholar.

Stoops, a former walk-on wide receiver for the Sooners, was among 156 semifinalists named Wednesday for the William V. Campbell Trophy — the “Academic Heisman.”

The Campbell Trophy is bestowed annually by the National Football Foundation to the nation’s top football scholar-athlete.

The Sooners have a previous winner of the Campbell: center Ty Darlington took home the award in 2015. Darlington is now an OU assistant.

This year’s semifinalists have a combined 3.62 average GPA, with more than half of the semifinalists having already earned their bachelor's degrees.

Former OU quarterback Tanner Mordecai is also among this year’s semifinalists.

So far this season, Stoops has eight catches for 90 yards and a touchdown.

Semifinalists now have an opportunity to receive an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship, which is awarded to each of the 12-to-14 finalists for the Campbell Trophy. Those finalists will be announced Oct. 26.

Those finalists will travel to Las Vegas for the NFF Annual Awards Dinner, where each finalist will accept their scholarship and meet the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame inductees and other legends attending the event.

The winner receives the coveted 24-pound bronze Campbell Trophy and a $25,000 post-graduate scholarship, an appearance on the Home Depot College Football Awards Show on ESPN, and a trip to New York City for a special reception at the New York Athletic Club, the official home of the trophy.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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