Elqutub, Bourgeois Among Nominees for Allstate AFCA Good Works Team
FRISCO, Texas - Northwestern State senior linebacker Yaser Elqutub and McNeese State punter Ben Bourgeois are among 132 nominees for the 2011 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, the American Football Coaches Association announced this week.
The award recognizes the selfless contributions to volunteerism and community service made by college football student-athletes across the nation. This year marks the program's 20th year of honoring college football players at all levels of competition who stand out for their "good works" in the community.
Elqutub has received two major honors for his campus and community service and leadership, being named one of 135 students nationally named as a Newman Civic Fellow and receiving the 2011 Southland Conference's Steve McCarty Citizenship Award.
The McCarty Award honors outstanding qualities in citizenship, sportsmanship, leadership and community service. Newman Civic Fellows are identified by Campus Contact. That organization recognized him as one of 135 students from 30 states who are inspiring college student leaders who have shown an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities.
Elqutub, president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at Northwestern, is a national representative for the Southland Conference on the NCAA's SAAC and attended the January 2010 NCAA Convention in San Antonio.
He is president of Alpha Epsilon Delta, the honor society for premed majors, and is treasurer of Blue Key and a member of Phi Kappa Phi.
Elqutub is a recipient of the Presidential Award and Scholars' Research Award. Last fall, Northwestern students chose him to be king of the Homecoming Honor Court. Elqutub is a member of Northwestern's NCAA Cycle 3 Certification Steering Committee, serving on the Commitment to Equity Subcommittee.
At Northwestern, Elqutub has raised awareness and involved others in a variety of local, national, and international initiatives that enrich the lives of children. He has been involved with the Families in Need of Service (FINS) program and "Up 'Til Dawn" for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
During the last two years he has volunteered over 200 hours of his personal time to campus and community causes. In April 2010, he helped organize fundraisers during a week of campus activities promoting awareness for Samaritan's Feet, an organization that provides new shoes to children in developing countries.
Bourgeois, a native of Sulphur, La., recently graduated from McNeese with a honors degree in engineering. He is returning as a graduate student for his final year of athletic competition with the Cowboys.
The team's punter, he posted a 37.0 yard per kick average last year, having 20 of his kicks downed inside the 20 yard line and 21 of them fair caught. He began his career with the Cowboys as a fullback but a back injury forced him to shift positions, and he became the team punter.
Bourgeois is a recent recipient of the Southland Conference's F.L. McDonald scholarship award and during the 2010 football season was named to the FCS Athletic Directors Association Academic All-Star Team, to the CoSIDA Academic All-District VI Team and to the Southland's all-academic football squad.
He's an active member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and attended a sponsored retreat this year, is an usher at his church, has been a guest speaker at elementary school career days, a volunteer for benefit golf tournaments and has assisted with the Senior Olympics.
Since 1992, selection to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team has become the gold standard for off-the-field character and leadership for college football players. The honor is widely considered the sport's pre-eminent community service award.
Nominees are submitted by sports information directors across the nation on behalf of their schools and a special voting panel consisting of former Good Works Team members and prominent college football media members will select two 11-player Good Works Teams - one comprising of players from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and another representing players from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III, and the NAIA.
The 22 student-athletes named to the 2011 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team will be announced in late September.