May 2, 2012
NORFOLK, Va. -- Former Football Monarchs Ronnie Cameron (Westbury, N.Y.) and Thomas DeMarco (Palm Desert, Calif.) were among those named as members of the National Football Foundation (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society.
The Hampshire Society is comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college career. A total of 721 players from 232 schools qualified for membership in the society's sixth year, marking this year's class as the largest since the program's creation in 2007.
Cameron, who signed this past weekend as a free agent with the Chicago Bears, is the most decorated Monarch since the program restarted in 2009. Cameron's success was both on and off the field having earned CAA Defensive Player of the Year, CAA Football Student-Athlete of the Year, and All-America honors from seven different publications in 2011. A First Team All-CAA honoree, he ranked second on the Monarch squad with 73 tackles (28 solo, 45 assisted) along with a team-leading 17 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. He averaged 5.6 tackles per game, which was fourth among defensive lineman in the CAA and finished second in the league in tackles for loss averaging 1.31 per contest. He also captured a career-high 11 tackles along with a season-best 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks against CAA Champion Towson and made 10 stops with three for loss against James Madison.
DeMarco, who will be heading North after signing a contract with the B.C. Lions of the CFL, a two-time Walter Payton Watch List member and member of the CAA All-Academic Team. DeMarco had started in 27 consecutive games as the Monarchs' signal caller totaling 51 passing and 30 rushing touchdowns in his career. He completed 417 of his 816 passes averaging 163.8 yards per game in the air. DeMarco also captured 1,456 yards on the ground averaging 41.6 per contest. As a junior in 2010, he ranked seventh nationally in total offense averaging 289.00 yards per game, throwing 23 touchdown passes and averaging 250.5 yards passing, which included a career-high 407 yards at Monmouth. In ODU's inaugural season in 2009, DeMarco was the second leading quarterback in the FCS and seventh among FCS student-athletes in scoring averaging 9.45 points per contest. He averaged 255.7 yards of total offense a game and completed 137 of his 255 attempts while throwing only four interceptions to go along with 21 touchdown passes.
The Hampshire Honor Society represents a powerful component in the National Football Foundation's rich history as an innovator in promoting the scholar-athlete ideal. Launched in 1959 with a donation from Hall of Fame coach Earl "Red" Blaik, the NFF's National Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments, became the first initiative in history to grant postgraduate scholarships based on a player's combined academic success, football performance and community leadership. And, since its inception, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program has awarded $9.8 million to 756 top scholars and community leaders.
Currently, the NFF distributes more than $300,000 a year at the national level through the program to 16 individuals. Each winner of a National Scholar-Athlete Award receives an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. Additionally, the William V. Campbell Trophy, endowed by HealthSouth, is given to one member of each year's class as the absolute best. The winner of the Campbell Trophy, claimed by Army linebacker Andrew Rodriguez in 2011, receives a total scholarship of $25,000 and a 24-inch, 25-pound bronze trophy. Through its chapter network, the NFF also awards an additional $1 million to local high school student-athletes, bringing the NFF's annual scholarship distribution total to more than $1.3 million.