TCU's Hughes, Utah's Beadles Finalists for 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award

Football Home HEADLINES Mountain West to be Represented in Super Bowl XLIV TheMWC.com Your Source for National Letter of Intent Signing Day 2010 San Diego State to Provide MWC Representation in NFL Pro Bowl RELATED LINKS • Follow all of the college football action at CollegeSports.com • Email this to a friend

Oct. 8, 2009

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - TCU senior defensive end Jerry Hughes and Utah senior offensive tackle Zane Beadles are among 10 NCAA® student-athletes who were tabbed as finalists today for the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award in the football division. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior in the Football Bowl Subdivision and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition.

The Mountain West is one of three conferences (Big Ten, Big 12) to have two or more representatives on the list.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School^TM, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 candidates that were announced in September.

Hughes, a communications major from Sugar Land, Texas, has collected six sacks as part of 7.5 tackles for loss and 26 total stops overall in four games this season.

Beadles, a mechanical engineering major from Sandy, Utah, anchors the line for a Ute offensive unit that is ranked among the nation's Top 25 in both rushing (204.25 ypg) and total (432.75 ypg) offense in 2009.

Joining Hughes and Beadles on the list of finalists are: Richie Brockel, Boise State University; Eric Decker, University of Minnesota; Kurtis Gregory, University of Missouri; Dan LeFevour, Central Michigan University; Colt McCoy, University of Texas; Zoltan Mesko, University of Michigan; Darrell Stuckey, University of Kansas; and Tim Tebow, University of Florida.

Nationwide balloting begins immediately to determine the winner. Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award^TM winner in early January.

The 10 finalists will be placed on the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award football ballot for a nationwide vote beginning today and concluding December 6. Fan balloting is available on the award's official Web site, www.seniorCLASSaward.com, as well as through text messaging. Fans can text FOOTBALL to 74567 to vote for the finalists. These votes will be combined with votes from coaches and media to determine the recipient of the award.

This marks the second year for the football division of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. In 2008, Ohio State University linebacker James Laurinaitis took home the inaugural football award.