Howerton Named One Of 30 Senior CLASS Award Candidates

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Howerton Named One Of 30 Senior CLASS Award Candidates

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (SMU) – Hayden Howerton was today named one of 30 candidates for the 2021 Senior CLASS Award.

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.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I FBS senior or graduate student and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

Howerton has an undergraduate degree from SMU in Applied Physiology and Sport Management with a Concentration in Sport Performance Leadership. He is working on his Masters in Management.

A team captain and part of the leadership council, Howerton has volunteered with youth clinics, taken part in local hospital visits, participated in an initiative to help feed the homeless, elementary school reading programs, served as a homeless shelter volunteer, assisted in turning over cots and passing out blankets during winter months and served as an elementary school reading tutor.

Howerton leads active Mustangs with 46 career starts, the most for an active Mustang, and helps lead an offensive line that tops the FBS allowing zero sacks through five games, and leads the conference in first down offense (137), total offense (532.4), scoring offense (42.6) and passing offense (314.2).

Howerton started all 10 games at left guard in 2020 and helped the Mustangs to national rankings of ninth (1st AAC) in red zone offense (.920), 13th in passing offense (318.0) and 15th in scoring offense (38.6).

The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later in the season, and those 10 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.

The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during football bowl season in December.

For more information on each of the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.