JIM THORPE AWARD NAMES SEMIFINALISTS
Oklahoma City—The Jim Thorpe Association announced today 15 semifinalists for the 2012 Jim Thorpe Award, given to the top defensive back in college football.
The Thorpe Award is named after history’s greatest athlete, Jim Thorpe, and is presented by the Jim Thorpe Association in Oklahoma City. Thorpe excelled at every sport in which he competed, including football at which he played on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The three Thorpe Award finalists will be named on Monday, November 19th and the winner will be announced at the Home Depot College Football Awards Show on December 6th airing on ESPN. The winner of the 2012 Thorpe Award will be honored at a banquet in Oklahoma City on February 5, 2013.
The 2012 Thorpe Award semifinalists represent eight conferences and one independent: SEC (4), PAC 12 (3), Big 12 (2), C-USA (1), ACC (1), Big 10 (1), Big East (1) and MWC (1).
Thorpe Award Semifinalists
Johnthan Banks, Sr. Mississippi State
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, So. Oregon
Matt Elam, Jr. Florida
Tony Jefferson, Jr., Oklahoma
Nigel Malone, Sr., Kansas State
Dexter McCoil, Sr., Tulsa
T.J. McDonald, Sr., USC
Dee Milliner, Jr., Alabama
Zeke Motta, Sr., Notre Dame
Jordan Poyer, Sr., Oregon State
Eric Reid, Jr., LSU
Xavier Rhodes, Jr., Florida State
Bradley Roby, Soph., Ohio State
Logan Ryan, Jr., Rutgers
Phillip Thomas, Sr., Fresno State
The Jim Thorpe Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. For more information, visit the association’s official website, www.ncfaa.org.
