Texas football: Shackelford Named a Senior CLASS Award Finalist

Texas’ first Senior CLASS Award finalist since since Sam Acho in 2011

From the Texas sports information department 

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Texas senior offensive lineman Zach Shackelford was named a finalist for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award on Thursday. Shackelford joins Colt McCoy (2009) and Emmanuel Acho (2011) as Longhorns to be named a finalist for the award which honors FBS seniors that have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

Shackelford, a native of Belton, Texas, is a fourth-year offensive lineman who has played in 38 games and started 35 times in his career. He is one of six Longhorns elected as a team captain by their teammates this season, was a semifinalist for the 2019 William V. Campbell Trophy and is on the watch list for the Rimington Trophy, honoring the nation’s top center.

Shackelford has started all eight of UT’s games this season at center, where he leads an offensive line that was named to the Joe Moore Award’s Midseason Honor Roll for the second consecutive year. Behind Shackelford and the Longhorn line, junior QB Sam Ehlinger has set Texas records with 2,378 passing yards, 23 passing touchdowns, 2,739 yards of total offense and 28 total touchdowns. UT’s offense is averaging 39.1 points per game, the 11th-best mark in the country this season. Shackelford also played a key role in helping Texas have a 95-yard rusher in four-straight games – the Longhorns’ longest streak since 2016.

Off the field, Shackelford holds a 3.4 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) as a Corporate Communications major. He is also minoring in American Sign Language. He is a five-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (spring 2016, spring 2017, fall 2017, spring 2018, spring 2019) and is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 (2017, 2018) honoree.

He is a repeat visitor at the Dell Children’s Medical Center, and was part of a group of Longhorns that visited a children’s hospital in Houston while the Longhorns were at the Texas Bowl in 2017. Shackelford has also volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club, YMCA and Travis County Juvenile Detention Center away from the gridiron.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the 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 selection committee from the list of 30 candidates announced earlier this season. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select a winner, and fans are encouraged to vote on the Senior CLASS Award website through Dec. 9. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I head coaches’ votes to determine the winner. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the football bowl season in early January.

For more information on all the finalists, visit seniorCLASSaward.com