IRVING, Texas - Austin College senior football player Tom Samonig has been selected by the National Football Foundation Gridiron Club of Dallas as a Collegiate Scholar Athlete, the organization has announced.

Samonig, an offensive lineman from Portsmouth, England, is one of just seven college football players to earn this distinction, and the only student-athlete selected from NCAA Division III. Along with the college recipients, 60 North Texas high school scholar-athletes will be honored for their accomplishments during the chapter's 10th Annual Awards Banquet Sunday, March 18, at 6 p.m. CT at the Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum by the Galleria.

Selected from a pool of candidates that covers the entire region, the seven collegiate and 60 high school players earned NFF chapter scholar-athlete recognition in 2018 after a rigorous review. The selection committee, comprised of coaches, teachers, administrators and business leaders from North Texas, evaluated the college and high school candidates based on their athletic accomplishments, academic performance and leadership in the community. The high school honorees will enroll in the fall at a prestigious list of institutions, including Ivy League schools, state universities and the service academies.

Samonig was a four-year letterwinner for Austin College, and started at offensive tackle for the 'Roos.