JR Woods, Nicholas D'Ambrose and Michael Wozniak were each named finalists for the Campbell Trophy, which is unprecedented representation for Division III football players for this honor. Photos by Mike Atherton, Doug Sasse, Caleb Williams, d3photography.com

Only one Division III student-athlete has ever won the honor now known as the Campbell Trophy, which is awarded to college football's top student-athlete in terms of football, academics and leadership.

This year, Division III has a much greater opportunity of breaking back into that D-I club, as three D-III student-athletes have been named among the 15 finalists. Typically, just one D-III player is included on the list. 

Each of the 15 finalists will each receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 2022 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments®. Johns Hopkins senior tackle JR Woods, Chicago running back Nicholas D'Ambrose and St. John's defensive lineman Michael Wozniak will join 12 others at the 64th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 6. During the event, one member of the class will be declared as the winner of the 33rd Campbell Trophy® and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.

The last time a Division III football player received this award was in 2003, when Brandon Roberts of Washington U. was awarded what was then known as the Draddy Trophy.

Woods is in his second year as a starter on the offensive line for the Blue Jays. After transferring to Johns Hopkins after his freshman year, the 2020 season was promptly canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since stepping on the field in 2021, Woods has been a key figure of a Blue Jay team that has won 16-of-18 games, claimed a share of the 2021 Centennial Conference title and advanced the second round of the NCAA Playoffs last season.

Woods is majoring in economics and carries a 3.65 cumulative GPA. He worked over the summer as an investment banking analyst at Stifel Financial, and he previously worked as a real estate investment analyst for Clearview Real Estate Partners. Woods has volunteered at the Johns Hopkins Food Pantry, participated in the Be the Match Bone Marrow registration drive and aided special needs adults through the Best Buddies Club. During the COVID pandemic, Woods was an assistant factory manager at AJ Siris Products Corporation, helping manufacture and distribute more than one million masks.

An accounting major with a 3.86 GPA, Wozniak was selected to the 22-man, 2022 Allstate American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team, and earned College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America first-team honors last fall.

The three-time Academic All-MIAC honoree (minimum 3.5 GPA) was a 2021 D3football.com All-America first-team selection. Wozniak has 28 tackles (15 solo), including 10 for a loss and seven sacks, as well as two forced fumbles and four quarterback hurries in seven games this fall. Wozniak has 16.5 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks over his last nine games going back to last season, and 28 tackles for loss and 17.5 sacks in 27 career games.

Off the field, Wozniak is in his fifth year raising money for a pair of SJU football's initiatives, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Tackle Cancer. He was also a member of the Johnnies' Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which holds an annual Kids Fighting Hunger meal-packing event every March, for two academic years (2020-21 and 2021-22). Wozniak also helped organize a swim meet for local Special Olympians in Spring 2022 in Collegeville.

A 2021 First Team Academic All-American, D’Ambrose is a three-time Academic All-Midwest Conference selection. The Dean’s List honoree received the 2022 UChicago Stagg Medal as the top senior male athlete with the best all-around record for athletics, scholarship and character. Boasting a 3.69 GPA as a neuroscience major with a minor in chemistry, D’Ambrose has already earned a certificate in fundamentals of clinical research.

Preparing for his future career in medicine, D’Ambrose has conducted 50 hours of research with the Cardiac Surgery Group at UChicago, 250 hours of research on Staphylococcus aureus in the Missiakas-Schneewind Lab and 250 hours of research on pancreatic cancer with Dr. Xavier Keutgen. A participant in the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative, he is also a member of the Global Health Alliance, which devises strategies to address and combat health inequities. D'Ambrose is a member of UChicago’s Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and has helped coached youth football camps.