Nov. 7, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The National Football Foundation has named University of Kentucky senior kicker Joe Mansour its Scholar-Athlete of the Day for Thursday, Nov. 7, for his hard work in the classroom during his three-plus years with the Kentucky football program, the NFF announced Thursday morning.
Each NFF Scholar-Athlete of the Day is selected from the list of candidates for the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments. Nominated by their school as the absolute best all-around scholar-athlete on their team, 171 candidates met the high standards needed for consideration this year. As part of its effort to highlight the best of the gridiron, the NFF separately highlights each of these 171 candidates on its website.
According to the NFF release, these outstanding individuals must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship.
Mansour, who has a cumulative GPA of 3.45 and is majoring in business management and marketing, is a three-year member of the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll and has been active in the Lexington community since arriving on campus. On top of working with UK Athletics God’s Pantry Back Pack program, Mansour has volunteered as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army, volunteered to help clean St. Peters Catholic Church, participated in Camp Viola for underprivileged kids, painted housed for low-income families, and volunteers regularly for Troup County youth leadership program every summer.
On the field, Mansour has shined in his senior season as the starting placekicker, hitting 10-of-11 field goals on the year, including 22-of-23 extra points to lead Kentucky in scoring with 58 points. The native of LaGrange, Ga., has a career-long field goal this season of 45 yards, while his field goal percentage of 90.9% ranks first in the SEC and 21st nationally. Mansour had a great game a few weeks back against Mississippi State hitting field goals from 44 yards and 45 yards, while earlier in the season against Florida he rushed for a 25-yard touchdown on a fake field goal.
Kentucky is preparing for its final practice of the week Thursday before it plays host to No. 9 Missouri on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium at Noon ET.
