UCF senior running back Greg McCrae today was named a semifinalist for 2020 William V. Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda. The award is presented annually by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF).
Celebrating its 31st year, the award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership. The NFF will announce 12 to 14 finalists in November, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 2020 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments. Later this year, one member of the class will be declared as the winner of the 31st Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda, having his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000 and receiving his own 25-pound-bronze version of the iconic statue.
Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of playing eligibility, have a grade-point average 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.
From Miami, Florida, McCrae earned honorable mention all-American Athletic Conference in 2019 from Pro Football Focus. He is currently the UCF career record-holder with a 7.1 rushing yards-per-carry average. He ranks eighth all-time at UCF with 21 career rushing TDs. When he rushed for 1,182 yards in 2018 he became the first UCF back to top 1,000 yards since 2013. His 206 rushing yards versus Memphis in the 2018 AAC Championship Game rank as the 10th-most single-game yards in UCF history and five yards shy of the AAC Championship Game record.
McCrae's career rushing totals include 282 carries for 1,995 yards and those 21 TDs in 38 career games (six starts). On a preseason basis in 2020, McCrae was named to watch lists for the Doak Walker Award and the CFPA National Performer of the Year, while also being named a preseason third-team all-conference pick by Athlon.
In 2017 McCrae helped the Knights earn national champion team recognition (Colley) with a 13-0 record. UCF won the AAC regular-season title and AAC Championship Game, defeated #7 Auburn in the Peach Bowl and finished #6 in the final Associated Press poll. In 2018 he helped UCF go 12-1, win the AAC regular-season title and AAC Championship game, play #11 LSU in the Fiesta Bowl and finish #11 in the final AP poll. In 2019 UCF with McCrae's assistance built a 10-3 record, defeated Marshall in the Gasparilla Bowl and finished #23 in the final AP poll.
McCrae has been a participant in visits to the Tampa St. Joseph's Children's Hospital at the 2019 Gasparilla Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl Outreach event (at the Fiesta Bowl following the 2018 regular season), Central Florida Dreamplex (a center for fitness, recreation and sports designed for individuals with physical and/or cognitive disabilities) and Relay for Life. He has been a volunteer with local food banks in providing sandbags—and he plays an active ongoing role as a member of UCF uKnighted Nations Action Committee that addresses racial and social injustice via programming for athletics staff, coaches and student-athletes.
McCrae will graduate from UCF in December with a degree in sports and exercise science. He currently holds a 3.22 cumulative GPA.
McCrae is one of 199 semifinalists for the Campbell Award, including 85 from the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Launched in 1959, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards Presented by Fidelity Investments celebrate their 62nd year in 2020. 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 866 outstanding individuals since the program's inception. This year's postgraduate scholarships will push the program's all-time distribution to more than $11.9 million.
Named in honor of the late Bill Campbell, the trophy has been prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club since 2013. An All-Ivy League player and the captain of Columbia's 1961 Ivy League championship team, Campbell found his true calling after an unlikely career change at age 39 from Columbia football coach to advertising executive.