Every Tuesday, we will bring you four student athletes that have been nominated by their school's athletic director, coach, or you! We will write a brief description as to why they are deserving of the award and the rest is up to the fans to vote for the Scholar of the Week. After the votes are tallied, we will announce a winner on Friday. At the end of the regular season a new poll will take place.
Each of the weekly winners will be released via a poll for the Ivy Tech Community College Student Athlete of the Year. Fans will vote throughout the IHSAA playoffs with the winner being recognized during the last Colts home game at Lucas Oil Stadium and being awarded a scholarship to Ivy Tech Community College.
Last week, Heritage Christian's Anthony Warrum was named the Scholar Athlete of the Week. He ran away with the vote getting accumulating 85% of the votes. Warrum has excelled on and off the field over the last few years becoming an exemplary student-athlete. Aside from his AP classes and mission trips, Warrum has been a reckoning force over the past few years. He is a highly sought after Division I talent and Coach Ron Qualls says "there's not much he can't do. He is a fine young man."
Here are the second week's nominees and a little bit about them:
Damian McDuffy/New Albany High School/Defensive Tackle - McDuffy is a Bulldog scholar, he has a 4.0 GPA, he is an excellent student, class leader and is involved in many nonprofit organizations like the lupus foundation, and he helped in raising over four thousand dollars last year for this foundation, as his sister has lupus. he also is part of the ice socks team of the Kentucky Special Olympics helping raise 60,000 dollars for the Special Olympics and plunging into the river for the last three years, and is very involved in the making strides for breast cancer walk each year as well. When McDuffy played freshman football, they lost only one game, and he was pulled to the varsity to play in sectionals. As a sophomore he was a starting DL, making many sacks and tackles through the season. He is a determined player, and loves the game. He plays football with his heart, and recently participated in the Pro College Combine in Indianapolis with the some of the best in the state.
Joseph Sweeney/Cardinal Ritter High School/Defensive Lineman - Currently ranked second in his class with a GPA of 4.574, scored a perfect 800 on the Math portion of the SAT and perfect 36 on the Math portion of the ACT. He has received numerous academic awards. At Cardinal Ritter, is Vice-President of the National Honor Society, a member of the 2011 Championship Brain Game team and 2012 Runner-up Brain Game team. Also a member of the White River Academic League team and Academic Super Bowl. Participates in Service Learning, Campus Ministry and as a Student Ambassador. Is a nine year 4-H member and was named Outstanding 4H-er in Wayne Township in 2010. Won state and national awards in the Electric project. Participated in Youth Leadership Hendricks County during his sophomore year. Offensive and Defensive Lineman for the Raiders. Started both ways in 2011. Named Scholar Athlete for 2011 season, and academic All Indiana Crossroads Conference. Also, Scholar Athlete and Academic All Conference for Track and Field team in 2012.
Jake McConnell/Boonville High School/ Kicker/Punter- Jake was a member of P-Kom at his school. This is a program that has junior and seniors mentor incoming freshmen at orientation and throughout the school year. He is also a member of his high school athletic council. He has attended the student leadership conference held by IHSAA. He also has worked youth summer camps for both soccer and football. He is in his fourth year of playing both soccer and football. He has been a varsity player since his sophomore year and is now a senior. He has been named Big 8 All Conference and All Southwest Indiana in football. He has been named special teams MVP for the last two years in football. He has also been named as special teams' captain for this football season. McConnell won a regular season game last year in overtime with a field goal. He also was a varsity member of the school track team this past year as a junior.
Austin Alberson/Bellmont High School/ - Alberson has been named to the honor roll every year while in high school. He also volunteers at a local food bank. On the field, he has been a starter since his sophomore year where they won sectionals. The only junior nominated for team captain as a sophomore last February.
How to get involved?
-Nominate a current Indiana High School Football Player!
- Check back every Monday for the weekly nominees!
- Vote for the weekly winner!
-Check back every Friday fir the weekly winner!
- Share with your friends on Facebook and Twitter!
