IRVING, Texas – Gallaudet University seniors Tyler Conner (Welsh, La.), Jacob Hundley (McKee, Ky.), Carter Johnson (McCall, Idaho), Jaylen Johnson (Redlands, Calif.) and Zefan Nathanson (Manor, Texas) earned a spot in the 2026 National Football Foundation (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society, which is comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 grade point average (GPA) or better throughout their college career, been a starter or significant contributor to the program and completed their final year of playing eligibility in 2025.
A record 2,633 players from 369 schools qualified for membership in 2026, marking the largest class in the program's 20-year history. Since its inception, the initiative has honored 23,605 student-athletes from 692 schools since 2007.
Division III's Case Western Reserve led all programs among all divisions with 23 members. Rutgers topped the FBS programs with 21 honorees. East Texas A&M led the FCS with 20 members. Hillsdale (Mich.) set the high-water mark in Division II with 17 honorees. Grand View (Iowa) placed 11 members to lead the NAIA. Cornell headed all Collegiate Sprint Football League teams with 12 honorees.
This year's members represented six divisions: 853 from the FBS, 507 from the FCS, 267 from Division II, 903 from Division III, 68 from the NAIA, and 35 sprint football players. The FBS cohort came from 125 schools, reflecting a 92 percent participation rate.
Notable players include NFF Campbell Trophy winner Eli Stowers (Vanderbilt), Fernando Mendoza (Indiana), Jacob Rodriguez (Texas Tech), Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) and Kaleb Blaha (UW-River Falls).
Gallaudet now has 38 honorees in 15 years selected to the NFF Hampshire Honor Society as this year's group join Caleb Hinton (2012), Kevin Berrigan (2013), Denton Mallas (2013), Ryan Bonheyo (2014), Nicholas Elstad (2014), Mike Hantge (2014), Peter Leccese (2014), Adham Talaat (2014), Gregg McConville (2015), Nico Santiago (2015), Sean Maiwald (2016), Sean Fenton (2017), Katie Bigelow (2018), Devaron Scott (2018), Drew Faulkner (2019), Brad Peterson (2019), Malik Amann (2020), Matthew Cracraft (2020), Everett Polzin (2020), Austin Bates (2022), Timel Benton (2022), Cress Fisher (2022), Austin Hicks (2023), Joseph Mendis (2023), Laron Thomas (2023), Josh Buentiempo (2024), Conner Egan (2024), Cas Mastropaolo (2024), Jonathon Waterman (2024), Jacob Hartman (2025), Cotis Martinez (2025), John Scarboro (2025) and Kylar Sicoli (2025).
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 774 college and universities with football programs nationwide.
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. Each player, awarded with membership in this year's Honor Society will receive a certificate commemorating their achievement.
"To see this program reach 20 years with a record number of honorees is really special," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. "As the world of college football faces an era of transition, one thing remains the same: the game's ability to develop well-rounded student-athletes committed to excellence in the classroom as well as on the field. The NFF Hampshire Honor Society provides an important platform for us to recognize the value of the game in developing leaders while shining a light on their individual accomplishments."
Twenty-three colleges and universities have had at least one player in all 20 years of the NFF Hampshire Honor Society (2007-26), including BYU, Brown, Bucknell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Dayton, Iowa, Johns Hopkins, Kentucky, Lafayette, Minnesota, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Penn State, Redlands (Calif.), Saint John's (Minn.), SMU, South Dakota State, Wayne State (Mich.), West Virginia, Wingate (N.C.), Yale and Youngstown State.
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About The Hampshire Foundation The Hampshire Foundation is the charitable arm of The Hampshire Companies, a privately-held, fully-integrated real estate firm that has over 60 years of hands-on, cycle-tested experience in acquiring, developing, leasing, repositioning, managing, financing and disposing of real estate. Learn more at www.hampshirere.com.
About The National Football Foundation Founded in 1947, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational organization that runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. With 120 chapters in 47 states nationwide, NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame, the NFF Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments, Future For Football, I Played, the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Alumni Association, and scholarships of more than $1.3 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. For more information, please visit www.footballfoundation.org.
