Niswanger Wins H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Award

Louisiana State Senior Center Rudy Niswanger, the 2005 winner of The National Football Foundation’s Draddy Trophy presented by HealthSouth, took home the SEC’s 2005-2006 male H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award last week. A committee of Faculty Athletics Representatives chose Niswanger to receive a $10,000 postgraduate scholarship to go along with the $25,000 he received for winning the Draddy. The official presentation will be made on June 1 at the Annual Awards Banquet during the league’s spring meeting in Destin, Fla. Other football-playing finalists for the McWhorter award included 2005 Draddy Finalist DeMeco Ryans (Alabama), Ryan Schnetzer (Florida), Taylor Begley (Kentucky) and Sidney McLaurin (Ole Miss). Niswanger starred on an LSU squad that finished 11-2 in 2005 and captured a 40-3 victory over Miami in the Peach Bowl.

Pitt Hall of Famer Marshall Goldberg Dies at 88

Marshall Goldberg, a member of Pitt's "Dream Backfield" of the 1930s and a 1958 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, died last Monday in Chicago. He was 88. The 1938 runner-up to Davey O’Brien for the Heisman Trophy, Goldberg racked up a then-school record 1,957 for the Panthers from 1936-1938. Goldberg twice received All-America status, in 1937 and 1938, and also finished third in the 1937 Heisman Trophy voting. The Pitt teams he starred on combined for a 25-3-2 record, with the 1936 squad besting Washington in the Rose Bowl and the 1937 team capturing the national championship for coach Jock Sutherland, a 1951 Hall of Fame inductee.

Former Wolverine Sponsors Scholarship at Alma Mater

Braylon Edwards’s contributions to the Michigan football program did not stop after the standout wide receiver concluded his playing career in 2004 as the school’s career leader in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. The current Cleveland Browns wide receiver announced last week he will donate $500,000 to endow a scholarship to whichever Wolverine wears No. 1, a jersey number made famous by Edwards, David Terrell and 2001 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Anthony Carter. The scholarship will go to another player if no player wears No. 1. The school plans to honor Edwards for his donation on Friday, April 14, with a reception at the Champions Center next to Michigan Stadium.

Nehlen Earns Induction into West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame

Former West Virginia head coach Don Nehlen, a 2005 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, will enter the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame on May 7. The induction will be made during the 60th annual Victory Awards Dinner at the Lakeview Resort and Conference Center in Morgantown. Nehlen retired in 2000 after coaching the Mountaineers for 21 seasons. He guided them to 149 victories and 13 bowl games as well as undefeated regular seasons in both 1988 and 1993. Nehlen also coached for nine years at Bowling Green State University and finished his career with a 202-128-8 record. He joined fellow coach Pat Dye as the two coaches inducted alongside 11 players into the College Football Hall of Fame last December 6.

Two-Minute Drill

Kentucky football player Antoine Huffman received $5,000 as the male recipient of the SEC Community Service Post-Graduate Scholarship. Runners-up for the award included football players Greg McLain (Alabama), James Johnson (Arkansas), Tommy Jackson (Auburn) and Howard Clark (South Carolina)… Southern Illinois head football coach Jerry Kill returned to the sidelines only three months after having surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his kidney… Texas Coach Mack Brown served as the grand marshal for the Samsung/RadioShack 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday… ESPN announced last week it will provide the state of New Mexico with a $2 million line of credit to host a bowl game at New Mexico’s University Stadium in Albuquerque. ESPN, officials from the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences and the New Mexico Sports Authority will petition the NCAA on April 27 to become the 29th Division I bowl game… Bud Fernandez, head equipment manager for the Florida Gators for more than 20 years, died Friday at the age of 86… The Texas Tech University home football stadium was officially renamed Jones AT&T Stadium last week as it currently undergoes more than $45 million in renovations… Justin Hostetler, the son of former West Virginia quarterback Jeff Hostetler, accepted an invitation to walk on to the football team at WVU… David Klinger, the NCAA season record holder for yards per game and touchdown passes, will serve as a color analyst this season for the University of Houston, his alma mater… Northwestern State completed their spring practice two Saturdays ago with their 16th Annual Joe Delaney Bowl, named in honor of the former NSU standout halfback, and 1997 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, who died in 1993 trying to save three drowning kids… Ben Malcolmson, a writer for the University of Southern California’s Daily Trojan, successfully walked on to the USC football team, the first football team he has made since the fifth grade… Filming started last week on the movie We Are Marshall about the crash of the football team’s plane on November 14, 1970, that killed 75 people, including most of the football players and coaches… Tulane practiced on their home practice field last Monday for the first time since last August 27, right before Hurricane Katrina hit the area… Former Temple assistant coach Raymond Monica was named the new head football coach at Kutztown… Arizona State announced the hiring of John Wrenn as running backs coach… Chris Rumph left Memphis to join Tommy Bowden’s staff at Clemson as a defensive line coach… North Texas hired Ramone Archie as its running backs coach. Archie played at North Texas from 1998 to 1999… Portland State named Jeff Hoover as the team’s new offensive coordinator… Gil Marchman left his post as assistant to the Supervisor of Officials at the Big Ten Conference to become the Southwestern Athletics Conference’s Coordinator of Football Officials.