Four Utah State football players named to National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society

LOGAN, Utah – Four Utah State football players have been named to the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame’s 2014 NFF Hampshire Honor Society, announced by the association Tuesday.

Aggie seniors safety Clayton Christensen, linebacker Jake Doughty, offensive lineman Jamie Markosian and wide receiver Travis Reynolds were all recognized for their academic and athletics efforts. Christensen, Doughty and Markosian will all graduate from Utah State this spring with degrees in human movement science, mechanical engineering and civil engineering, respectively. Reynolds graduated from USU last fall with an interdisciplinary studies degree in health and wellness. Throughout their careers, Reynolds, Markosian and Doughty each received academic all-conference honors all four years. Christensen started his college career at Snow College where he was on the Dean’s List and received all-conference accolades both years at Utah State.

To qualify for the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, student-athletes must be a starter or significant contributor in their final season of eligibility while maintaining a 3.2 cumulative grade point average and meeting all NCAA-mandated progress toward their degree requirements.

A total of 838 players from 267 schools qualified for membership in the society’s eighth year, setting a new record for the number of members in the history of the program, which began in 2007. The four Aggies are among 19 student-athletes from the Mountain West to make the list.

The NFF Hampshire Honor Society capitalizes on the NFF’s current National Scholar-Athlete program greatly expanding the number of scholar-athletes the NFF can recognize each year. The program further strengthens the organization’s leadership role in encouraging academic performance by the student-athletes who play football at the more than 700 college and universities with football programs nationwide. The initiative has honored 4,927 student-athletes since its inception, and the program has experienced growth every year in either members or school participation since its launch in 2007. The 2014 class of 838 players represents a new high water mark for members, eclipsing the old record mark by 117 student-athletes.

Jon F. Hanson, the chairman and founder of The Hampshire Companies, provided the endowment to launch the NFF Hampshire Honor Society in 2007. He made the contribution as part of his legacy to the organization after serving as NFF chairman from 1994-2006. He currently serves the organization as a chairman emeritus. Each player awarded with membership in this year’s Honor Society will receive a certificate commemorating their achievement.

“We have honored more than 4,900 student-athletes in the last eight years thanks to Jon Hanson’s generosity,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, “We are grateful for his passionate belief in the scholar-athlete ideal, and the Hampshire Honor Society allows us to showcase the names of tomorrow’s leaders while inspiring future generations to follow in their footsteps.”

Fans can follow the Aggie football program at twitter.com/USUFootball. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on facebook at Utah State University Athletics.

-USU-

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