Morris Named to Allstate AFCA Good Works Team

NORTHBROOK, Ill. – Miami Hurricanes senior QB Stephen Morris is one of 22 student-athletes selected to the 2013 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, announced Tuesday by the Allstate Insurance Company and the American Football Coaches Association. Recognizing the “good works” of a select group of college football players from across the country, the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team is one of the most prestigious off-the-field honors in college sports.

Morris is one of only 11 college football players from the Football Bowl Subdivision to be honored with the award, one of the most prestigious community service awards in all of college football. He is the seventh Miami Hurricane to be named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, joining Robert Bass (1993), Tony Coley (1996), Ryan Clement (1997), Nate Books (1998), Joaquin Gonzalez (2001) and Mike James (2012).

A two-year captain for the Miami Hurricanes, Morris has served as the football team’s Student-Athletic Advisory Council (SAAC) representative since 2011. He has volunteered countless hours in the community, including serving as the project manager for the University of Miami’s Marrow Donor Drive in 2012 and 2013.

Morris is a volunteer coach for a t-ball team in Miami’s Overtown community. He has also volunteered at the Miami Rescue Mission, Ronald McDonald House, Thanksgiving Food Drive and Run For Your Lives 5K.

The exercise physiology major, who is on pace to graduate in spring 2014, has been named to the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien award watch lists this preseason.

For more than two decades, the Allstate AFCA Good Works Teamhas recognized college football players at all levels of the sport for inspiring acts of service and off-the-field achievements. This summer, the program received a record 150 nominations from colleges and universities across the country.  From the nominations, an esteemed voting panel comprised of former Allstate AFCA Good Works Teammembers and college football media selected 11 players from the Football Bowl Subdivision and 11 players from the Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III and the NAIA to comprise the 22-player team.

This year’s Allstate AFCA Good Works Team boasts some of the most impressive service resumes in the award’s 22-year history.  From building houses overseas, to founding a mentorship program for at-risk youth, to serenading cancer patients at the local children’s hospital, this unique group of young men continues to raise the bar for the impact that student-athletes can have on their peers, teammates and communities.

“The AFCA, along with our partner Allstate, has been honoring football student-athletes for their good works, volunteerism and community service for 22 years with the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team,” Grant Teaff, AFCA Executive Director said. “The 2013 class of Good Works Team members is another great example of the outstanding athletes, and even better men, that our nation’s college football programs produce each year.”

Fans can vote for the 2013 Allstate AFCA Good Works TeamCaptain by visiting ESPN.com and searching “Good Works.”  There, fans can learn more about this year’s team members and vote for the player who they feel represents the “best of the best” in the areas of giving back and contributing to the greater good of their communities.  The Team Captain and his fellow award recipients will be invited to New Orleans to take part in a community project leading up to the 2014 AllstateSugar Bowl. 

The 2013 Allstate AFCA Good Works Teamvoting panel includes: former Good Works Teammembers Zaid Abdul-Aleem (Duke, 1994 team), Matt Stinchcomb (Georgia, 1997, 1998 teams), Brian Brenberg (St. Thomas, 2001 team), Mike Proman (Amherst, 2002 team); media members Lou Holtz (ESPN), Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN), Tom O’Toole (USA Today), Blair Kerkhoff (Kansas City Star); current AFCA President and University of Texas Head Coach Mack Brown; 1987 AFCA President LaVell Edwards, former head coach at Brigham Young University; and Cynthia Whitfield, field vice president of Allstate’s Southern Region.

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