Hank Spencer has twice received the Elite 89 award, the NCAA's recognition of the player with the top grade-point average at a national championship. Photo by Dan Poel, d3photography.com

Mount Union senior linebacker Hank Spencer has been named a finalist for the 2015 Campbell Trophy presented by Fidelity Investments, the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame.

The 12 finalists, selected from a group of 135 semifinalists across all divisions of college football, will each recieve an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship and be recognized at the 58th National Football Foundation Awards Dinner on Dec. 8, 2015 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.  The Campbell Trophy will be awarded at the dinner with the winner having his scholarship increased to $25,000.

The recipient of the Campbell Trophy will also be honored at the NFF Board of Directors meeting and at a reception hosted by the New York Athletic Club on Wednesday, Dec. 9. He will then fly to Atlanta to be recognized during the The Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN at the College Football Hall of Fame on Dec. 10. As part of the NFF's partnership with the College Football Playoff, the Campbell Trophy winner will be recognized on the field during the Division I FBS championship on Jan. 11, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz.

The award has gone to a Division III player just once, in 2003, when Brandon Roberts of Washington University won what was then known as the Draddy Trophy.

Named in honor of Bill Campbell (the chairman of Intuit, a former player and head coach at Columbia University, and the 2004 recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal), the award comes with a 25-pound bronze trophy. A total distribution of $223,000 in scholarships will be awarded that evening, pushing the program's all-time distributions to more than $10.9 million.

Spencer is a computer science major with a 3.99 grade point average. He graduated from high school early four years ago and enrolled at Mount Union in the spring of 2012.

On the field, Spencer is third on the team in tackles this season for a No. 1 ranked team that is NCAA Division III's top rated overall defense. A season ago, he was an All-American, an Academic All-American, an All-OAC First Team and All-North Region Second Team pick.  

In 2013, Spencer played in 13 games and had 56 tackles with five and a half tackles for loss as he earned All-OAC honorable mention and Capital One Academic All-District selection. As a freshman in 2012, he started the final seven games for the national champion Purple Raiders and was an All-OAC honorable mention pick.

He is a two-time winner of the NCAA Elite 89 award, which goes to the student-athlete with the highest grade point average at a national championship event.

A two-time team captain, he has aided in a variety of leadership and community service that include Trick or Treat with the Raiders, Habitat for Humanity and Rodman Public Library. 

Mount Union has sent three other finalists to New York City over the years -- Nick Driskill in 2012, Greg Micheli in 2008 and Eric Safran in 2007.

The NFF National Scholar-Athlete program, launched in 1959, became the first initiative in history to award scholar-athletes postgraduate scholarships for their combined athletic, academic and leadership abilities. Including the 2015 recipients, the NFF has honored 816 individuals with National Scholar-Athlete Awards. The honorees have used the financial support to earn more than 150 medical degrees, 100 law degrees, 80 MBAs and 43 PhDs. Continuing their excellence on the field, 175 recipients have played in the NFL with an average career of six seasons or double the length of a typical NFL player. Past recipients also include 13 Rhodes Scholars.

NFF Campbell Trophy - 2015 finalists