SAN FRANCISCO - USC’s Nick Figueroa was named the 2022 Pac-12 Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the conference announced today. The award, which is presented in each of the 24 sports sponsored by the Pac-12, was established to honor collegiate student-athletes that are standouts both academically and in their respective sports disciplines.

 

Figueroa is the first Trojan to win the Pac-12 Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, which was established during the 2007-08 academic year. He earned his bachelor’s degree in real estate development in the spring of 2021 with a cumulative GPA of 3.76, and is currently working on a master’s degree in finance. In 2021 the defensive lineman was a Senior CLASS Award semifinalist, and won USC’s Trojan Howard Jones/Football Alumni Club Academic Award and Co-Lifters Award. He also was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team and CoSIDA Academic All-District Team. He is a two-time David X Marks Scholar Athlete, which is bestowed upon student-athletes who have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.

 

The redshirt senior has nine sacks,16.5 tackles for loss and 64 total tackles during his Trojan career. Figueroa earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention and Phil Steele All-Pac-12 third team honors in 2020 after posting 20 tackles and a team-high seven tackles for loss in six games. This year Figueroa was selected as a Campbell Trophy semifinalist and a Lott IMPACT Trophy quarterfinalist after recording four-and-a-half sacks and 19 tackles.

 

In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility), on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50 percent of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport’s regular season. The athletics accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in voting for the award.
 

A Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be named in each of the Pac-12’s 24 sponsored sports: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, beach volleyball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse, men’s rowing, women’s rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s track & field, women’s track & field, women’s volleyball, and wrestling.
 

ALSO NOMINATED: Arizona’s Paiton Fears, Arizona State’s Michael Matus, California’s Jamieson Sheahan, Colorado’s Daniel Arias, Oregon’s Alex Forsyth, Oregon State’s Jack Colletto, Stanford’s Walter Rouse, UCLA’ s Jake Bobo, Utah’s R.J. Hubert, Washington’s Peyton Henry and Washington State’s Brennan Jackson.