Five Bucknell Football Seniors Earn NFF Hampshire Honor Society Membership

IRVING, Texas – Five Bucknell football seniors became members of the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society, the organization announced Wednesday morning.

Pat Finn, Joe Lauro, Bryan Marine, Drew Newcomb and Brice Sydnor were the Bison recognized by the Hampshire Honor Society this year. The group includes three captains and two All-Patriot League selections; the group combined to earn nine Patriot League Academic Honor Roll appearances over the past four years.

To qualify for membership in the Hampshire Honor Society, a student-athlete must have maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or better throughout his college career. An all-time high of 1,643 players from a record 424 schools qualified for membership in 2019, the society's 13th year. Bucknell is one of just 12 FCS schools that had at least one honoree all 13 years, joining Brown, Columbia, Dayton, Lafayette, Montana, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Yale and Youngstown State.

"Bucknell Athletics has a long-standing tradition of scholar-athlete excellence, so it is a point of great pride that our football program has been represented in the Hampshire Honor Society in each of the last 13 years," said Director of Athletics Jermaine Truax. "We are very appreciative of the National Football Foundation for recognizing the important off-the-field accomplishments of these outstanding student-athletes. We consider membership in the Hampshire Honor Society a prestigious achievement, and we hope to see many more Bucknell student-athletes represented in future years."

Previously, the Bison placed a league-best 45 student-athletes on the 2018 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. It was the third-straight season the Bison boasted at least 40 Academic Honor Roll members. The 2018 campaign's number represented over 54 percent of the team's roster and was headlined by All-American punter Alex Pechin and linebacker Rick Mottram, a 2018 CoSIDA Academic All-District 2 selection who earned a team-best 4.0 during the fall semester.

In addition, Bucknell tied Colgate for the league lead in number of 2018 Academic All-Patriot League team members. Marine, Mottram and Pechin were recognized on that 15-man team, with Pechin becoming only the fifth repeat Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year in conference history. Marine was also named a named a semifinalist for the 2018 William V. Campbell Trophy®, commonly referred to as the "Academic Heisman."

2019 NFF Hampshire Honor Society Members
Pat Finn, OL, Mechanical Engineering
Joe Lauro, S, Sociology*
Bryan Marine, CB, Geography^
Drew Newcomb, S, Economics*
Brice Sydnor, S, Political Science