IRVING, Texas ----- For the second consecutive year, San Jose State University offensive tackle Jack Snyder is a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's William V. Campbell Trophy awarded to the nation's top student-athlete.
Known as the "academic Heisman," the Campbell Trophy is named after Silicon Valley icon the late Bill Campbell, a Columbia University team captain and All-Ivy League football player. He was the chief executive officer and chairman of Intuit, Inc., and also was known as the "Coach of Silicon Valley" for mentoring area giants including Steve Jobs of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Sheryl Sanberg at Facebook, Dick Costolo at Twitter, and many others.
Snyder met the nominating criteria of being a senior athletically, possessing an undergraduate grade-point average of at least 3.20 on a 4.00 scale, first strong status on a team, and demonstrating strong leadership and citizenship.
He is a second-year graduate student pursuing a master's degree in urban planning. A four-time Academic All-Mountain West and two-time Mountain West Scholar-Athlete, he majored in business administration as an undergraduate. Snyder was named a San Jose State University Deans Scholar in 2018.
On the field, Snyder is a fixture in the Spartans' offensive line. Heading into this weekend's action against New Mexico State, he started either at right or left tackle in 44 games since 2017. He received honorable mention All-Mountain West honors in 2019 and first-team all-conference recognition in 2020. He was a preseason All-Mountain West choice this season.
Since 2019, he served internships with a local property management company during the 2019 football season and a second internship in spring 2020 with a commercial property and casualty insurance company in San Jose.
From the semifinalists, 12 to 14 finalists will be named in November. The finalists will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and be named to the 20212 National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Class of 2021 presented by Fidelity. Later in the year, one of the finalists will be the winner of the Campbell Trophy presented by Mazda and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.