Penn State center Nick Dawkins wins Wuerffel Trophy, college football's top community service award
Penn State center Nick Dawkins is the 2024 Wuerffel Trophy winner. He is the first Nittany Lion to win the honor that is considered college football’s top honor for community service. The redshirt senior is also the captain of the AFCA All-State Good Works Team. Twenty-two players made that team from across various levels of the sport, and the 11 FBS players on it were up for the Wuerffell.
“This means so much to me. Obviously the AFCA and All-State, all that they do, it’s bigger than myself,” Dawkins told ESPN.
“I think for us, on the field, we strive to be our best, but it’s more of a testament to our character based on the platform we receive, the impact you want to make on people off the field.”
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Dawkins founded the Dawkins Family Foundation. He is also the president of the Uplifting Athletes chapter at Penn State and serves on Devon Still’s “Still Strong Foundation.” Those are only a few of the ways he gives back to the community while pushing the Lions’ offense forward.
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“Since I’ve been here, it’s always been about what I do off the field,” Dawkins told BWI this summer. “I think that’s important, because it’s the mark of who I am as a man, not my identity as a football player.
“But I’ll be honest with you. I have all the confidence in the world that I’m the best center in the country. I’ve worked my dang tail off to be that and to be in the position that I’m in. I think there are a lot of guys in this world who have more talent than I do, but I promise you that they will never outwork me. They’ll never put in the work and the time and the effort that I have put in to be in the position that I’m in now.”
On the field, Dawkins has played 781 of a possible 871 snaps this season for the Nittany Lions’ offense. The team returns to to the field on Dec. 21 when it hosts SMU in a first round College Football Playoff matchup. Kickoff is set for Noon ET. TNT will televise the game at Beaver Stadium.
