Story provided by the Colorado Sports Information Office
BOULDER, Colo. - University of Colorado senior offensive lineman Brian Daniels has returned from New York City where he was honored as one of the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award winners and a finalist for the prestigious Vincent Draddy Award, given annually to the scholar-athlete who is recognized as the best in the country for combined academic success, football performance and exemplary community leadership.
Daniels flew into New York Monday where he met the other 16 finalists and attended the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with a performance by the Rockettes. After the performance the finalists ate dinner at Mickey Mantle's Restaurant in Central Park South.
The next morning Daniels and the others attended a media event and got to meet former college stars like Bruce Smith, Emmitt Smith, Chad Hennings and Charlie Ward.
"It was awesome meeting all of those guys," Daniels said. "They look a lot different without pads on and they are a lot older than I remember, but I got to talk some football with them."
The awards dinner was held at the Waldorf-Astoria where Daniels and the rest of the players stayed. There were several speakers, including Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden.
After dinner came the introductions of the scholar-athletes along with highlight clips of the finalists. Rutgers fullback Brian Leonard was announced as the winner of the Draddy Trophy. The other Division I finalists included Florida quarterback Chris Leak, Penn State linebacker Paul Posluszny, Connecticut defensive tackle Rhema Fuller, West Virginia linebacker Jay Henry, Oklahoma defensive tackle Carl Pendleton, and Wyoming safety John Wendling.
After the Draddy Trophy presentation was the College Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony where greats like former CU running back Bobby Anderson were recognized.
"The National Football Foundation community initiatives make me proud to be a part of this Hall of Fame class, and scholar-athletes like Brian Daniels make this all worth while," said Anderson at the Hall of Fame press conference.
Daniels, a Finance major with a 3.6 GPA, was an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection in 2006, his final season at CU. Named a captain at the start of the season, Daniels was the leader on an offense which went through a complete schematic overhaul after head coach Dan Hawkins was hired. He is also a two-time First-Team Academic All-Big 12 selection.
Just being named a finalist for the Draddy Award is an amazing accomplishment in itself given that there were 148 players nominated. Daniels is the recipient of an $18,000 scholarship for his postgraduate studies. He plans on attending law school once his football career is over.
Other past winners from CU include Joe Romig (1961), Jim Cooch (1970), Rich Bland (1973), Eric McCarty (1987) and Jim Hansen (1992). Hansen went on to win the Draddy Award that year.
"When I won the award and was invited to this event I didn't know how big of a deal it was," Daniels said. "It was just a great thing to be a part of."
