IRVING, Texas — Former UTSA student-athletes Ahofitu Maka and Jared Sackett have been named to the 2023 National Football Foundation (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society, the NFF & College Hall of Fame announced this week.
The Hampshire Honor Society is comprised of college football players from all divisions of the NCAA, NAIA and sprint football who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college careers. An elite group of 1,734 players from 328 schools qualified for membership in 2023, setting a record for the number of members in a single year during the program's 17‐year history. The initiative has now honored 16,370 student-athletes since its inception. Click here for the 2023 list of members.
"We are thrilled to honor another impressive group of athletes as part of this year's Hampshire Honor Society," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "Over the last 17 years, the Hampshire Honor Society has served as a powerful vehicle for schools to recognize their college football players who have distinguished themselves both academically and athletically, and we congratulate the schools and each of these young men for their commitment to excellence in all aspects of their lives."
A finalist for the 2022 William V. Campbell Trophy® and an NFF National Scholar-Athlete, Maka was named to the Academic All-America® Football First Team by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) and to the Conference USA Football All-Academic Team last fall. Also a member of the CSC Academic All-District Team for the third straight year, he graduated magna cum laude with a 3.78 GPA in cyber security in August and is currently pursuing a master's in management of technology. During his academic career, Maka has been selected three times each to the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll, UTSA President's List and UTSA Honor Roll and is a C-USA Academic Medal recipient.
A first-team all-league selection this fall, Maka started all 14 games at center and helped guide the Roadrunners to an 11-2 overall record, a perfect 8-0 mark in the league, their second straight C-USA title and a bowl game for the third consecutive season. He surrendered only one sack in 600 pass-blocking snaps and finished with a 98.1% pass-blocking efficiency according to Pro Football Focus. The three-time all-conference performer helped UTSA average 36.8 points and 476.0 yards per game, including a school-record 300.7 passing yards per contest.
Sackett started his collegiate career at UTSA in 2017 before transferring in 2019 to Arkansas, then a year later to South Florida. Prior to his second tenure at UTSA, he earned a spot on The American All-Academic Team in 2020 while kicking for USF. He also landed on the USF Dean's List prior to collecting his bachelor's degree in economics in December 2021. He rejoined the Roadrunners for the 2022 season and has earned a 3.78 GPA while working on his master's degree in business.
On the field, Sackett was a second-team all-conference selection at place-kicker in 2022 after he made 22 of 27 field goals and all 59 extra-point attempts. He finished his career ranking second on UTSA's single-season list for each category and also tallied 125 points, the second-best single-season total in program annals. The Fort Worth native was named C-USA Special Teams Player of the Week a school-record five times during the season, giving him seven as a Roadrunner. A 2017 USA TODAY Sports Freshman All-American and a two-time Lou Groza Award semifinalist, the Burlsworth Trophy nominee finished his UTSA career with a program-record 55 field goals and 100 PATs.
Nominated by their respective schools, members of the NFF Hampshire Honor Society must be either:
- A senior player, who will graduate this spring/summer, and just completed his final year of playing eligibility in 2022; or
- A graduated player, who has been out of high school at least (3) years;
And must have:
- Attained a minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.2 (4.0 scale); and
- Been starters or significant contributors throughout the 2022 season.
The NFF Hampshire Honor Society capitalizes on the NFF's National Scholar-Athlete program by greatly expanding the number of scholar-athletes the NFF can recognize each year. The program further strengthens the organization's leadership role in encouraging academic performance by the student-athletes at the 774 colleges and universities with football programs nationwide.
Jon F. Hanson, the chairman and founder of The Hampshire Companies, provided the funds to launch the NFF Hampshire Honor Society in 2007. He made the contribution as part of his legacy to the organization after serving as NFF Chairman from 1994-2006. He currently serves the organization as chairman emeritus. Each player awarded with membership in this year's Honor Society will receive a certificate commemorating his or her achievement.
"It was my great privilege to endow the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, which has greatly increased the number of college student-athletes the NFF has been able to recognize during the past 17 years," said Hanson. "Nationwide there are thousands of football players excelling in the classroom, and they are going on to become great leaders."
"We have honored more than 16,000 student-athletes in the last 17 years thanks to Jon Hanson's generosity," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. "We are grateful for his passionate belief in the scholar-athlete ideal, and the Hampshire Honor Society allows us to showcase the names of tomorrow's leaders while inspiring future generations to follow in their footsteps."
The Hampshire Honor Society represents an important component in the organization's rich history as an innovator in promoting the scholar-athlete ideal, which began in 1959 with the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards. Click here to learn more.
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