BOZEMAN — Montana State defensive end Brody Grebe, a senior from Melstone, became a finalist for the National Football Foundation’s William V. Campbell Trophy on Wednesday. Known as the Academic Heisman, the award is presented annually to college football’s premiere student-athlete.
“It’s an amazing honor for a college football player when you’re one of 16,” Montana State coach Brent Vigen said. “It’s not just one thing, it’s everything you are. It’s who you are as a player, certainly, but it’s who you are as a student, who you are as a person that embraces his opportunity to make an impact and give back, and I truly think Brody is all of those things. I think he’s very deserving of this honor, and for us at Montana State to have him and Troy (Andersen in 2021) as finalists within four years, both Montana natives, is significant. Getting an opportunity to coach young men like Brody and Troy is something you don’t take for granted.”
Grebe and this year’s Campbell Trophy finalists, chosen from a pool of more than 200 candidates at all levels of college football across the nation, comprise this year’s NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments, receiving an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. The group is honored during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Dec. 16. Grebe joins former teammate and current Atlanta Falcons linebacker Troy Andersen as Bobcats selected for this honor.
“I was loosely familiar with both the Campbell Trophy and the College Football Hall of Fame,” Vigen said, “but having been to the banquet twice it’s a who’s who of college football, and rightfully so. Between the College Football Hall of Fame and the Campbell Trophy finalists it’s a really special event. Brody will be up there with some amazing peers, and deservingly so.”
Grebe graduated summa cum laude from MSU in May with a 3.93 cumulative grade point average (out of 4.0) in mechanical engineering and earned CSC first-team Academic All-America honors as a junior. He is a two-time first-team All-Big Sky selection who earned third-team All-America honors as a sophomore and second-team honors last season as a junior. He was also an FCS Athletic Directors Association Scholar-Athlete and post-graduate scholarship finalist in 2023. He was named Montana Society of Engineers: Most Outstanding Engineer – Gold Medal Award winner and earned an MSU Engineering Award for Excellence.
A second-year team captain, Grebe’s community service efforts include volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, local blood and bone marrow drives, preparing Thanksgiving meals for underprivileged, reading in Bozeman elementary schools, and coaching flag football. He wears MSU’s legacy jersey No. 41 which honors both the 1941 Bobcats who lost many team members in World War II and Montana’s status as the 41st state inducted into the Union.
He leads the No. 2 Bobcats, 8-0 on the season, with six sacks. That total is 25th in the FCS.
2024 William V. Campbell Trophy Finalists
- Tahj Brooks, RB – Texas Tech (3.55 GPA – Sport Management)
- Robert Coury, LB – Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) (3.97 GPA – Mechanical Engineering)
- Jaxson Dart, QB – Ole Miss (3.71 GPA – Business)
- Beau Freyler, DB – Iowa State (3.91 GPA – Kinesiology)
- Dillon Gabriel, QB – Oregon (3.43 GPA – Multidisciplinary Studies)
- Ashton Gillotte, DL – Louisville (3.69 GPA – Communications)
- Brody Grebe, DE – Montana State (3.93 GPA – Mechanical Engineering)
- Mark Gronowski, QB – South Dakota State (3.76 GPA – Mechanical Engineering)
- Terrance Hollon, LB – Howard (3.90 GPA – Health Science)
- Jack Kiser, LB – Notre Dame (3.82 GPA – Business Analytics)
- Luke Lehnen, QB – North Central (Ill.) (3.76 GPA – Exercise Science)
- Brayden Long, QB – Slippery Rock (Pa.) (4.00 GPA – Sport Management)
- Jake Majors, C – Texas (3.65 GPA – Business Management)
- Seth McLaughlin, C – Ohio State (4.00 GPA – Finance)
- Jalen Milroe, QB – Alabama (3.52 GPA – Management)
- Jackson Woodard, LB – UNLV (3.77 GPA – Kinesiology)
