After establishing themselves as the best of the best on the field and in the classroom, 16 scholar-athletes, who were recognized by the NFF & College Hall of Fame in 2011, were among the elite prospects who were drafted or were under consideration during the 77th NFL Draft in New York City. For a complete list of 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy finalists and other Scholar-Athletes selected in the April 26-28 festivities, please go wo footballfoundation.com/news…West Virginia director of athletics Oliver Luck was a gleeful participant as his son and Stanford All-America QB Andrew Luck was No. 1 in the 2012 Draft.

NFF 2011 National Scholar-Athlete and William V. Campbell Award finalist Chandler Harnish was the 273rd and final player chosen in the 2012 NFL Draft. Paul Salata, defensive standout at Southern California from 1945-48 and later NFL performer from 1949-53 before having roles in several movies, presented the Mr. Irrelevant Award last Saturday at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Salata began the program for final draftees in 1976, and they receive trips to Disneyland and other amenities. Harnish actually joins the likes of standouts such as Kansas City Chiefs’ kicking star Ryan Succop of South Carolina in 2009, Houston Texans’ OLB Cheta Ozougwu of Rice in 2011, Denver Broncos’ WR Tim Toone of Weber State in 2010, and Denver Broncos’ CB Ramzee Robinson of Alabama in 2007 as recent final draftees.

The NFF & College Hall of Fame has named widely respected New Haven businessman and community leader Bill O’Brien, who has served as the president of the NFF Gene J. Casey (New Haven) Chapter since 1992, to the organization’s national board of directors. O’Brien becomes the first person to fill a newly established position on the national board that will be held on a rotating basis by a representative from the NFF Chapter Network. O’Brien joins an impressive group of leaders who currently serve on the national board, including Chairman Archie Manning, President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell, Vice Chairman Clayton I. Bennett, Vice Chairman Murry Bowden, and Vice Chairman George M. Weiss.

In just over two weeks, the NFF & College Hall of Fame will denote its 62nd annual Hall of Fame class with a national telecast over ESPNU at 11:30 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, May 15, with NFF officials hosting from NASDAQ headquarters in New York City, NASDAQ MarketSite, 4 Times Square (43rd St. & Broadway), zip code: 10036. At least three new inductees to be determined from the 2012 College Football Hall of Fame class (from a list of the 76 All-America players and eight elite coaches on the ballot) will be present to represent the announcement of the 14 players and three coaches who have been selected as this year’s class. Fans can watch a live stream on the web produced by XOS Digital at ESPN3.com (direct link), the NFF onDemand YouTube Channel (direct link) or at www.footballfoundation.org. Media will be provided a live satellite feed will be provided at coordinates TBD from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (EDT) or via a clean feed/Vvxy line at circuit No. 1625 of the Waterfront (Ascent Media) in NYC. News services (CBS Newspath; ABC NewsOne; NBC NewsChannel, CNN Newsource, Fox Feed, etc.) will provide specific footage. Permission is granted for use for news purposes only.

Happy birthdays to NFF College Hall of Famers Carlos Alvarez and Roger Brown (May 1), Richard Ritchie (May 2), Dave Robinson (May 3), Terry Baker (May 5), Vito “Babe” Parilli (May 7)…Note: May 1 is the most “active” for NFF College Hall of Fame birthdate throughout the year with eight standouts born on that date.

NFF College Hall of Fame Facts
Some key birthdates in NFF College Football Hall of Fame annals in the May 1-7 time period are May 1 (1900) Stan Barnes, Baraboo, Wis.; (1905) Chris Cagle, DeRidder, La.; (1907) Erby Pinckert, Medford, Wis.; (1910) Cliff Battles, Akron, Ohio; (1925) Chuck Bednarik, Bethlehem, Pa.; (1930) Ollie Matson, Trinity, Texas; (1937) Roger Brown, Surry County, Va.; (1950) Carlos Alvarez, Havana, Cuba; May 2 (1887) Joe Utay, St. Louis, Mo.; (1955) Richard Ritchie, Mineral Wells, Texas; May 3 (1919) Gil Steinke, Brenham, Texas; (1927) Bobby Davis, Columbus, Ga.; (1941) Dave Robinson, Mt. Holly, N.J.; May 4 (1903) Elmer Layden, Davenport, Iowa; (1910) Barry Wood, Milton, Mass.; (1928) Don Coleman, Ponca City, Okla.; May 5 (1921) Eddie Talboom, Delphos, Ohio; (1927) Al DeRogatis, Newark, N.J.; (1941) Terry Baker, Pine River, Minn.; (1947) Bob Babich, Youngstown, Ohio; May 6 (1909) Johnny Vaught, Olney, Texas; (1922) Pat Harder, Milwaukee, Wis.; May 7 (1881) Paul Bunker, Alpena, Mich.; (1896) Belford West, Hamilton, N.Y.; (1905) Henry “Red” Sanders, Asheville, N.C.; (1930) Vito “Babe” Parilli, Rochester, Pa.
Anniversary death dates of Hall of Famers are May 1 (1982) Ed Tryon, St. Petersburg, Fla.; May 2 (1983) Norm Van Brocklin, Social Circle, Ga.; May 3 (1971) Scrappy Moore, Chattanooga, Tenn.; (1976) Ernie Nevers, San Rafael, Calif.; (2007) Alex Agase, Tarpon Springs, Fla.; May 5 (1989) NFF tri-founder Col. Earl “Red” Blaik, Colorado Springs, Colo.

College Football Notes
The Bowl Championship Series released the following statements after last week’s meetings to discuss future changes in the BCS structure from the 11 conference commissioners and Notre Dame Athletics Director Jack Swarbrick:
“As part of our deliberations, we have carefully considered a number of concepts concerning the post-season structure for the BCS. From the start, we set out to protect college football’s unique regular season which we see as the best regular season in sports. We are also mindful of the bowl tradition and seek to create a structure that continues to reward student-athletes with meaningful bowl appearances. Having carefully reviewed calendars and schedules, we believe that either an eight-team or a 16-team playoff would diminish the regular season and harm the bowls. College football’s regular season is too important to diminish and we do not believe it’s in the best interest of student-athletes, fans, or alumni to harm the regular season. Accordingly, as we proceed to review our options for improving the post-season, we have taken off the table both an eight-team and a 16-team playoff. We will continue to meet and review the exact structure for what a new post-season could look like. We are making substantial progress. We will present to our conferences a very small number of four-team options, each of which could be carried out in a number of ways. We have discussed in detail the advantages and disadvantages of in-bowl or out-of-bowl games. We have discussed in detail the advantages and disadvantages of campus sites or neutral sites. We have discussed in detail the advantages and disadvantages of various ways to rank or qualify teams. Our process is proceeding as we have planned, and we look forward to further conversations.”

Texas A&M will host Rice on Aug. 31, 2013, for both teams’ season openers…Duke will travel to Kansas in a one-game deal in 2014…Navy and SMU have set a four-game series from 2015-18…Minnesota and Oregon State will tangle in both 2017 and ‘18…Colorado and Penn State (both in 2014) have added contests with new FBS and Mid-American Conference contender Massachusetts…Cincinnati and Ohio will play a wto-game series in 2018 and ’20…Army will air all seven of its 2012 contests at West Point, N.Y., at noon (Eastern Time) on the CBS Sports Network. It is the most home games for the Black Knights since 1994…Iowa is seeking some additional neutral site games such as a recent Kansas State-UI contest at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City…Montana State moved its 2012 home opener against Chadron State to Thursday, Aug. 30…Northern Iowa will host Central State (Ohio) on Sept. 8…BYU and Georgia Tech have cancelled their 2014 and ’17 series encounters while Navy and UNLV also postponed their possible series indefinitely…Michigan is awaiting an additional opponent from the Pac-12 Conference to complete its 2013 season…Air Force’s senior class in 2011 became just the fourth group of seniors in AFA annals to play in four consecutive bowl outings…Arizona athletics hopes to add artificial turf to its football facility by 2013…TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., has been approved for malt beverage sales during Minnesota’s 2012 gridiron campaign…Tennessee’s defense appeared to make solid progress with new formations and assistant coaches in spring workouts…Iowa athletics and the university’s Board of Regents approved Phase 2 of renovation of Nile Kinnick Stadium…Penn State is retaining two public relations firms to help provide pertinent information on athletics and university updates…South Carolina athletics received a failure to monitor compliance activities ruling from the NCAA Committee on Infractions but no additional sanctions…Eastern Kentucky athletics held a forum on the use of social media by Colonels’ student-athletes and preventative maintenance…Michigan has raised full funding to send the Wolverines’ band to Arlington, Texas, for the Sept. 1 opener against Alabama at Cowboys Stadium.

South Carolina athletics has become the latest entity to support the Wounded Warrior Project…Faulkner student-athletes participated in fundraising efforts in the Mobile Cancer Relay For Life campaign…LSU student-athletes helped give pointers and presented awards to the Ascension Parish Inclusive League for children with special needs and helped with logistics for the Cruising For a Cause cancer research fundraiser in Baton Rouge. Tiger student-athletes also gained invaluable insight from area and regional business leaders at Athletics Career Day…Drake athletics hosted Drake Football Youth Day…South Dakota football student-athletes assisted in Erath Day activities, tree plantings and cleanup in the area adjacent to campus…The University of Utah and Salt Lake City Fellowships of Christian Athlete groups had a joint task force meeting about community service last week…Fordham football student-athletes helped construct a nearby neighborhood prayer garden…Chattanooga student-athletics assisted in the city’s Clean and Green Program.

Head coach John L. Smith has left Weber State to take the same position at Arkansas. UA also is considering options for the head coaching post for 2013…Jody Sears was chosen as interim head coach at Weber State…Nebraska extended the contract of head coach Bo Pelini for five seasons…Two streets near the Kansas campus were named for late beloved Jayhawks head coach Don Fambrough…Colorado head coach John Embree and Heisman Trophy recipient Eric Bieniemy were part of the welcoming committee for President Barack Obama on his recent tour of the Colorado campus.

Norwood Teague has been named director of athletics at Minnesota…Other new ADs selected last week were Matt Land (Trine), John Sutyak (Wheaton, Mass.), Jason Verdugo (Hamline), Craig White (Millikin), interim Hampton AD Zeke Avery, and Milwaukee is preparing to appoint an interim AD after Rick Costello finished his UWM tenure last midweek…Former Nevada QB Jeff Rowe has joined Nevada athletics in a key fundraising role…St. Bonaventure athletics media relations director Dallas Miller is leaving to take a communications’ position with the Buffalo Bills…LSU system president Dr. John Lombardi will not return for the start of the next fiscal year…Emory and Henry athletics named Tom Antenucci facility operations coordinator…Jack Bogaczyk has been selected as Marshall athletics director of publications and editor of the Herd Insider.

The Big 12 Conference continues its search for a replacement for acting commissioner Chuck Neinas through the search firm – Los Angeles-based Korn/Ferry International – and is seeking to complete a 13-year television contract extension with ESPN…The Big Ten Conference BCS playoff proposals were discussed at last week’s BCS meetings and remain in the informational stages…The Mountain West Conference appears to be unlikely to get a BCS exemption to receive automatic bid status with the current six equity circuits (original qualifiers for BCS bowls since the 1998 campaign)…The ACC has scheduled its annual Operation Football media days July 22-23 in Greensboro, N.C., and the league’ spring prospectus is available here (http://bitly.com/2012ACCFBprospectus)…Charlotte, FIU, Louisiana Tech, and North Texas were mentioned in recent coverage as possible candidate for Conference USA membership…The North Texas Board of Regents has given president Dr. Lane Rawlins the authority to meet and negotiate with C-USA…The SEC had nine student-athletes taken in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft…The Colonial Athletic Association wrapped up four more schools’ spring drills over the last nine days and has been posting an updated blog with position changes, 2012 scheduling and other offseason news on the CAAsports.com website. The CAA’s preseason national media conference will be in Baltimore, Md., July 25. The conference added wrapups on Rhode Island and Maine spring drills last week as well as an online feature on Villanova WR Norman White…Virginia-Wise is joining the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.

There are now 25 certified bowls with telecast times and dates out of a potential 35 postseason FBS contests for 2012-13. These numbers include the five BCS encounters…Nine players who competed in at least one Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl over the last four seasons either were drafted last week or are in NFL free agent negotiations…The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl will be played on Saturday, Dec. 29, at 12:15 p.m. (PDT) between Navy (subject to bowl qualification) and a Pacific-12 Conference entry. The Valero Alamo Bowl that same evening at 5:45 (CDT) pits Big 12 and Big Ten Conference teams. Both will be aired nationally on ESPN…Notre Dame athletics expressed satisfaction with its renewed position as a leading independent among the BCS participants.

FOX Sports chair Ed Goren and former NFL director of broadcasting and Bowling Green alumnus Richard Maxwell addressed a large group on the BGSU campus last week during the Maxwell Conference on the power and financing of national sports broadcasting…The Big Ten Conference has denoted its 2012 primetime football schedule, and the full slate is available here (http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-footbl/big10-m-footbl-body.html)…The BTN ranked Michigan and Michigan State with the most difficult non-conference slates for 2012…NJCAA.com has established records for pageviews with its iHigh.som Platform webcasts and information services.

Before the printer ink had dried on the final day of the ’12 NFL Draft, 2013 top projections listed by BleacherReport.com are Southern California QB Matt Barkley, LSU DE/OLB Sam Montgomery, Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson, Utah DT Star Lotulelei, and DE/OLB Jarvis Jones of Georgia.

Former Texas DE Cory Redding and his wife Priscilla have endowed a scholarship for Texas athletics…Concordia (N.Y.) AD Ivan Marquez will be inducted into the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) Hall of Fame….Former USOC communications director and Colorado sports information director Mike Moran has joined Octagon and Action Sports, Inc…Connecticut Gov. Daniel P. Malloy welcomed UConn athletics to Husky Day at New Haven, Conn.

NC State athletics has inked an apparel and marketing contract with adidas…Northern Illinois has broken ground on the $9.5 million Chessick Practice Center…Mississippi State athletics set a one-day record for activity on its Twitter page after Sugarland appeared at MSU’s Super Bulldog Weekend…Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari helped Samford athletics raise $102,000 at a recent challenge and awards banquet…The Platte County Cowboy Joe Club raised $14,000-plus for Wyoming football scholarships…Purdue introduced a new athletics logo last Friday while Utah State unveiled its new logo as well…Temple athletics enjoyed national coverage of the Owls’ rise back to football prominence and key fundraising projects to assist all its programs in the Mid-American Conference…CollegePressbox.com posted over 1,000 photos and images of 373 draftees and potential NFL signees during the 2012 NFL Draft…The Towson athletics Tiger Club reached its 2012 membership goal of 1,500-plus.

The NCAA Division Board of Directors voted to allow some APR leeway for universities with limited athletics budgeting and set dates for increased eligibility standards…Florida State, North Carolina and Duke – all from the ACC – were among the Top 20 in the Learfield Sports NACDA Directors Cup NCAA Division I standings prior to final spring sports championships…The National Association of Athletic Development Directors revealed its minority stipend recipients for the 2012 convention, and they can be found here (http://www.nacda.com/sports/naadd/spec-rel/042712aae.html)…CoSIDA has honored Ohio State athletics media relations legend Shelly Poe with its 2012 Trailblazer Award while Michael MacEachern of Young Harris College will receive a 25-Year Award for service to the profession.

LeRoy Walker, an athletics administrator and later chancellor at North Carolina Central for 40-plus years as well as the first African American president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, passed away in Winston-Salem, N.C. He was 93…Moose Skowron, who starred at Purdue in football and later with the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers in MLB, died in Arlington Heights, Ill. He was 81…Former Ole Miss standout, Southeastern Louisiana head coach and retired longtime Southern Miss AD Roland Dale died in Hattiesburg, Miss….Doane (Neb.) football player Cody Fanning passed away in Crete, Neb., after an accident in a pickup truck. He was 20.

Key NFF Dates for 2012-13
May 15 – Announcement of the 2012 Football Bowl Subdivision inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame – New York City
May 22 – Announcement of the 2012 Divisional Inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame, Dallas
July 20-21, 2012 – College Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival – South Bend, Ind.
Sept. 27, 2012 – Announcement of the 2012 Campbell Trophy Semifinalists – Dallas
Oct. 25, 2012 – Announcement of the 2012 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class presented by Fidelity Investments and Campbell Trophy Finalists – Dallas
Tuesday, Dec. 4 – The 55th Annual NFF Awards Dinner News Conference at the Waldorf=Astoria – New York, N.Y., 9 a.m. (EST), tentative start
Dec. 4 – The 55th Annual NFF Awards Dinner at the Waldorf=Astoria – New York. 6:45 p.m. (EST)
Dec. 4 – The 23rd Presentation of William V. Campbell Trophy, endowed by HealthSouth, to the nation’s top senior scholar-athlete at the Waldorf=Astoria, New York
Jan. 2, 2013 – National Hall of Fame Salute at the Allstate Sugar Bowl – New Orleans, La.
Jan. 7, 2013 – Presentation of the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award – Miami, Fla.
Jan. 8, 2013 – MacArthur Bowl Presentation to the BCS National Champion – Miami, Fla.

2013 BCS Schedule (All Times EST or TBD)
Jan. 1 – Rose Bowl presented by VIZIO, Pasadena, Calif., 4:30 p.m., ESPN
Jan. 1 – Discover Orange Bowl, Miami, Fla., ESPN
Jan. 2 – Allstate Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, La., ESPN
Jan. 3 – Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz., ESPN
Jan. 7 – Discover National Championship Game, Miami, 8 p.m. (tentative), ESPN
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