Eli Simonson named as semifinalist for national scholar-athlete award
Jacob Psyk earns Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week honor
UC Davis graduate student and offensive lineman Eli Simonson has been named by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame as a 2025 semifinalist for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes an individual as the best football scholar-athlete in the country.
Simonson, a History major, is currently working on his Master of Management through the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. A Big Sky All-Academic team honoree in both 2023 and 2024, Simonson entered 2025 having started 25 games at left tackle and he entered the year named to the 2025 Big Sky Preseason All-Conference team.
Off the field, Simonson has spent time volunteering at assisted-living homes in his home state of Nebraska and most recently while he was a member of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, he joined the team for an annual road race to raise funds to battle pediatric brain cancer.
In its 36th year, the Campbell Trophy takes into consideration combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership. Named in honor of the late Bill Campbell, this year’s Campbell Trophy semifinalists total 177 athletes across all levels of the NCAA.
Known as “The Coach of Silicon Valley,” Campbell became one of our country’s most influential business leaders, playing critical roles in the success of Apple, Google, Intuit and countless other high-tech companies. The captain of the 1961 Columbia Ivy League championship team, he found his true calling after an unlikely career change at age 39 from football coach to advertising executive. His ability to recruit, develop and manage talented executives - all lessons he said he earned on the gridiron - proved to be a critical component of his ability to inspire his business teams to the highest levels of success.
Later in life, Campbell was driven by a heartfelt desire to give back, and he quietly gave away tens of millions of dollars to multiple charities while also finding an hour and a half each autumn weekday to coach an eighth-grade boys and girls flag football team near his home in Palo Alto.
Campbell passed away on April 18, 2016 at the age of 75.
In other Aggie football news, Harvard transfer and UC Davis defensive lineman Jacob Psyk has been named the Big Sky Co-Defensive Player of the Week.
Psyk set a career-high with seven total tackles, all solo, and added two sacks and three tackles for loss along with forcing two fumbles.
The Aggie defensive lineman gives the Aggies their second Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week this season. Psyk joins Rex Connors, who earned the honor after Week One when he had 15 total tackles in the Aggie comeback win at Utah Tech.
The Aggies, coming off a 50-34 win over Southern Utah in front of a stadium-record 17,217 fans, open Big Sky play against Weber State on Saturday night (7 p.m.) at UC Davis Health Stadium.
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