MIAMI (Aug. 1, 2017) – Senior Alex Gardner has been nominated for the 2017 Wuerffel Trophy, announced on Tuesday. Gardner is one of 114 student-athletes considered for the award honoring college football's top community servant.
 
Gardner is extremely active in the community, representing the FIU football program. The four-year starter at running back has assisted in teaching a fundamental skills camp as part of the Orange Bowl Football Alliance Clinics. These camps featured offensive, defensive and agility drills, while also stressing the importance of character development and good sportsmanship. Gardner has also been a mentor for students at Earlington Heights Elementary where he spoke to the students about the importance of good grades and how hard work and dedication leads to success. The Jacksonville, Florida, native has also worked with the Miami-Dade Police Athletic League (PAL), giving presentations to kids that focused on education, hard work, and perseverance.
 
Gardner made 12 starts to earn All-C-USA Honorable Mention honors last season, rushing for 930 yards on 181 carries and six touchdowns. He became the school's all-time leading rusher in 2016, finishing the campaign with 2,272 yards. Gardner also set the career mark in carries (504). He scored a team-high six rushing touchdowns while recording five 100-yard games, including a career-high 141 yards on the ground at UTEP (10/8). Gardner ranked No. 8 in the conference in rushing yards and No. 10 in rushing yards-per-game (77.5) while averaging 5.1 yards-per-carry.
 
Named after 1996 Heisman Trophy Winner, Danny Wuerffel, the Wuerffel Trophy, "College Football's Premier Award for Community Service," is presented in Fort Walton Beach, Florida annually to the college football player that best combines exemplary community service with academic and athletic achievement.
 
Past winners of the award are:  Rudy Niswanger - LSU - 2005; Joel Penton - Ohio State - 2006; Paul Smith - Tulsa - 2007; Tim Tebow - Florida - 2008; Tim Hiller - W. Michigan - 2009; Sam Acho - Texas - 2010; Barrett Jones - Alabama - 2011; Matt Barkley - USC - 2012; Gabe Ikard - Oklahoma - 2013; Deterrian Shackelford - Ole Miss and 2014 - Ty Darlington - Oklahoma - 2015, Trevor Knight - Texas A&M - 2016.
 
The nomination period for the award ends October 13, with semi-finalists released on November 2 and finalists on November 22.  Formal announcement of the winner will be at the National Football Foundation's press conference in New York City on December 5, with the presentation being made at the 49th Annual All Sports Association Awards Banquet on February 16, 2018 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  A list of all of the 2017 nominees can be found HERE.
 
The Wuerffel Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 23 awards boast over 700 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit www.NCFAA.org to learn more about our story.
 
For more information on the Wuerffel Trophy, visit www.wuerffeltrophy.org.
 
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The 2017 FIU football season will kick off on Thursday, Aug. 31, when the Panthers travel to Orlando, Florida, to take on the UCF Knights.

FIU's 2017 schedule is highlighted with games against Boca Raton Bowl and 2016 C-USA champion WKU, Popeyes Bahamas Bowl champion Old Dominion, AutoNation Cure Bowl participant UCF, Foster Farms Bowl participant Indiana, Hawai'i Bowl participant Middle Tennessee and Gildan New Mexico Bowl participant UTSA. In addition, the Panthers will face Rice, Charlotte, Marshall and Florida Atlantic as well as first-time opponents Alcorn State and Tulane. 
 
For FIU football ticket information, contact the University Credit Union Box Office at 305-FIU-GAME (348-4263).
 
For the latest information on Panthers football, follow us on Twitter, @FIUFootball, and check out Pete Pelegrin's in-depth coverage of FIU Athletics on his official blog, The Prowl, at www.FIUSports.com.


 
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.