Nate Scheelhaase Is A Finalist For The Wuerffel Award

Hey, we have some good news about the football program to report. On Monday it was announced that Nathan Scheelhaase was one of 12 finalists for the Wuerffel Award. What is the Wuerffel Award? Well, we didn't know either, but we knew it was named after former Heisman winner Danny Wuerffel.

From the press release:

The award is named after former Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel, who led the Florida Gators to the 1996 national championship, played six years in the National Football League and has received national recognition for his humanitarian and community service efforts with Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans and around the country.

"Once again we have an outstanding group of nominees and finalists for the Wuerffel Trophy," commented All Sports President Kevin Locht. "Each one embodies the spirit of the Wuerffel Trophy in their own unique way, putting others before themselves. It makes me proud to know that we have so many students out there with strong values and who aren't afraid to demonstrate those values each and every day," Locht added.

Seriously, good for Nate for being one of the finalists for this award. I know it gets lost in the shuffle because of how the team itself is performing, but Nate's played pretty damn well for the most part, and by the time he's done this season his name will be all over the Illini record books.

So far this season Nate has thrown for 2,540 yards, 15 touchdowns and eight interceptions while completing 65% of his passes. He's also rushed for another 151 yards and three touchdowns. While he's far from the greatest quarterback in the history of the world, when it comes to trying to figure out what's gone wrong this season, the answer hasn't been Nate Scheelhaase.