BOCA RATON, Fla. – Nick Weber, a center on the Florida Atlantic University football team, is one of just 81 players nationwide nominated for the Burlsworth Trophy, honoring the most outstanding player who began as a walk-on.
Weber has recorded more than 3,000 snaps (combining offensive and special teams’ snaps) as an Owl and has FAU’s only starting center since 2020. He has been a part of three FAU bowl teams and two Conference USA championship teams and serves as a leader for the 2022 team currently working for more postseason opportunities.
The award, in its thirteenth year, honors Brandon Burlsworth, a former University of Arkansas Walk-On and All-American offensive lineman. Burlsworth’s life is also the subject of a major motion picture, “GREATER”, which was released in 2016.
The Burlsworth Trophy is given to the most outstanding football player in America who began his career as a Walk-On and has shown outstanding performance on the field. Each nominee must have begun his first season of participation with FBS (D1) football program without financial aid of any kind from his university’s athletic department.
The 2021 winner was center Grant Morgan from the University of Arkansas. Morgan was one of three Burlsworth Trophy finalists in 2020 while earning Second-Team All-America honors from the Walter Camp Foundation and First-Team All-SEC recognition. He capped a historic career at Arkansas in 2021 as the school’s first Burlsworth Trophy winner while also being named a finalist for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award. During the 2021 campaign, he was again one of the leading tacklers in the SEC and FBS eclipsing the 100-tackle mark for the second straight year.
