The Tulane kicker is one of 206 semifinalists for the award recognizing high performing scholar athletes.
The Tulane Green Wave sort of have an envious issue now when it comes to too many kickers after the emergence of kicker Cooper Helmke against the Kansas State Wildcats where he set a school record on his first 58-yard attempt and followed it up with a 53 yarder.
It’ll be likely that we see Helmke continue to trot out there for the foreseeable future as place kicker beginning this weekend against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
However, the Green Wave still have a credible option in Jackson Courville, who was recently named as a semifinalist for the 2026 William V. Campbell Trophy, which touts itself as college football’s premier scholar-athlete award.
The award, in its 37th year of inception, recognizes the best student athlete in the nation for a combination of academic success, football performance, and display of leadership.
Each program nominates one nominee who is seen as the best all-around scholar athlete, and there is a total of 206 semifinalists across the nation.
The number of semifinalists is a new best for the award as the largest nominated group in history, besting the record of 204 set in 2024.
Courville makes up one of those 206 semifinalists as he continues on in his first year at Tulane after transferring over from the Ohio State Buckeyes.
He went 4-for-4 on extra points and had four touchbacks in four kickoff attempts for the Buckeyes.
This season for the Wave, Courville has a long field goal of 37 yards and is responsible for nine points on the year.
He first began his career alongside a current teammate, Kadin Semonza, while they were both at Ball State.
Courville spent his first two collegiate years there and went 26-for-34 on field goals with a long of 52 yards and was 54-for-56 on extra point attempts.
While at Ball State, Courville was a College Sports Communicators Academic All-America nominee and Academic All-MAC in 2024.
He also has been named to the watch list for the Wuerffel Trophy and for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award.
Courville is up for an award that recognizes the high standard of commitment it takes to play college football at this level while also excelling in the classroom and being a leader around the school.
This year’s group of semifinalists collectively carry a 3.64 GPA with 130 team captains, 24 All-Americans and 98 players working on their graduate degrees.
