Ryan Nassib’s late touchdown pass to Alec Lemon to lift Syracuse to a dramatic 37-36 win over South Florida capped off a strong week for the Orange quarterback.

Nassib was named a 2012 National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete, and will be honored at the NFF Awards on Dec. 4 at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. He’s one of 15 players from all three divisions of college football to receive the award.

The award is presented by Fidelity Investments, and is being given to Nassib for excelling academically, his performances on the football fields and his involvement in the community. Nassib is also now candidate for the William V. Campbell Trophy, which will be given to the best scholar-athlete in college football.

Each of the 15 scholar-athletes also receive a scholarship for graduate-school tuition. Nassib graduated from SU’s Whitman School of Management in May, and is currently enrolled in graduate school.

“It means a lot to be honored as a NFF National Scholar-Athlete,” Nassib said in a press release from SU Athletics last week. “It’s a great honor to be able to get an award from such a renowned foundation. I’m happy that I was able to get the award for my team and my school. It’s quite an honor to be recognized like this.”

Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross said in the release that Nassib sets a good example for all of the Orange’s players to follow.

“To me, this is one of the most prestigious awards in all of college athletics,” Gross said. “We are so proud of all of Ryan’s accomplishments on and off the field. He continues to be an incredible leader on the field as one of our most prolific passers in school history, and at the same time maintains the highest level of academic performance. This is the model we have in place and want all of our student athletes to strive to achieve.”

In his third season as the Orange’s starting quarterback, Nassib is averaging 310.88 yards per game, and has thrown 17 touchdowns so far. He’s also completely 65 percent of his passes. He also ranks 11^th in the country in completions per game with 25.38, and is ninth in the country in total passing yards this season with 2,487.

Nassib became the fifth Syracuse player to be given the award by the NFF, joining former Orange offensive tackle Mark Baniewicz, defensive tackle Tim Green, linebacker Tony Romano and halfback Gerhard Schwedes.

“This honor is a credit to Ryan’s discipline, dedication and determination,” Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone said in the release. “We applaud his effort and commitment to academic achievement, which he also brings to the football field and to our community. He is an outstanding leader with incredible focus. We appreciate the way he represents our program, our University and college football.”

Nassib will be honored at the same awards dinner as former Syracuse quarterback Art Monk, who is being inducted into the NFF College Football Hall of Fame.

“It’s going to mean a lot to have both myself and Art Monk there,” Nassib said. “I can only imagine the benefit it might have when it comes to the program, in terms of recruiting. Just being able to represent my school at something like this is definitely something special.”

Published on October 29, 2012 at 4:54 pm

Contact Chris: [email protected] | @chris_iseman