The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame announced its 50th National Scholar-Athlete class.

The award recognizes college football student-athletes for their athletics achievements, academic success and civic leadership. Recipients were chosen from a national pool of 164 semifinalists representing all NCAA divisions and the NAIA. The honorees also are automatically finalists for the Draddy Trophy, presented by HealthSouth, which recognizes the top football scholar-athlete in the nation. Each NFF National Scholar-Athlete will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship, while the Draddy winner will earn a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship.

The 2008 NFF National Scholar-Athlete class is:

• Andrew Berry, Harvard
• Ryan Berry, South Dakota State
• Chase Daniel, Missouri
• Brian Freeman, Carnegie Mellon
•  Casey Gerald, Yale
• Graham Harrell, Texas Tech
• Quin Harris, Louisiana Tech
• Jeff Horinek, Colorado State
• Ryan Kees, St. Cloud State
• Alex Mack, California
• Ryan McDonald, Illinois
• Greg Micheli, Mount Union
• Darryl Richard, Georgia Tech
• Brian Robiskie, Ohio State
• Louie Sakoda, Utah.

will be honored December 9 at the 2008 NFF annual awards dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York.

“We set extremely high standards just to be considered as a member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete class,” said NFF Chair Archie Manning, whose sons Peyton (Draddy winner) and Eli were NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. “These individuals far exceed even those high standards, defining well-rounded excellence throughout their college careers. They are true ambassadors of our mission and a testament to the positive influence of football’s ability to build our nation’s future leaders.”

Click here for more on the NFF National Scholar-Athlete award, including detailed bios of this year’s recipients, or visit www.footballfoundation.org.