Lawler One Of 30 Candidates Selected For Senior CLASS Award

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Lawler One Of 30 Candidates Selected For Senior CLASS Award

OVERLAND PARK, KAN. (SMU) -- Senior defensive end Justin Lawler is one of 30 honorees selected as a candidate for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award, the organization announced Thursday.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I FBS senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

Lawler is a part of SMU football's leadership committee, the group tasked with developing ideas and heading up efforts for the team's community engagement.

He takes part in visits to the Children's Hospital and participates in Relay for Life and Habitat for Humanity. He also serves as a mystery reader at Children's Health and participates in local elementary school events. Additionally, Lawler volunteers at a local retirement home, with Dallas Police Department community events, SMU football clinics and the Adaptive Training Foundation.

Lawler had played in 41 games as a Mustang, totaling 182 tackles, 32 tackles for loss and 17.0 sacks. He was a 2016 first-team all-conference selection, is a member of the Chuck Bednarik, Bronko Nagurski, Hendricks and Wuerffel Trophy Watch lists and is a nominee for the AFCA Good Works Team.

Lawler's career-high 4.0 sacks in last week's win over UConn places him seventh on SMU's all-time list. He also registered his fourth career blocked field goal and third career forced fumble. Lawler and the Mustang defense held UConn to -8 yards rushing. He leads the Mustangs with 6.0 sacks in 2017 and is second on the team in tackles (30) and tackles for loss (8.0).

Lawler graduated from SMU in May as a sport management major and sport performance leadership minor. This fall he began the masters in higher education program.

To determine the final Senior CLASS Award winner, the 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. Along with the winner, the 10 finalists will be awarded Senior CLASS Award first- or second-team honors.

The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the football bowl season in early January. For more information on the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.

The Mustangs play at Houston Saturday at 6 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.