The following article was written by the Southeastern Conference staff. To view the original article, click here.
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Rodrigo Blankenship of the Georgia football team and Elena Christofi of the Bulldog women’s tennis team have been nominated for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship by the University of Georgia.
The H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship has been presented by the Southeastern Conference since 1986 to the league’s top male and female scholar-athletes.
The Southeastern Conference will name the 2020 recipients of the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship in late May.
Highlights of Georgia’s nominees include:
RODRIGO BLANKENSHIP, Georgia, Football
Major: Digital and Broadcast Journalism; Master’s in Journalism
- NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient
- National Football Foundation (NFF) Scholar-Athlete Award/postgraduate scholarship recipient and Campbell Trophy finalist
- Winner of the 2019 Lou Groza Award, given to the nation’s top collegiate place-kicker
- First Team All-American by USA Today, AFCA Coaches, Sports Illustrated, Walter Camp, Bleacher Report and Pro Football Focus
- SEC record holder with 200 consecutive PATs
- UGA’s all-time leading scorer with 440 points, which ranks second in SEC history
- 2019 Google Cloud/CoSIDA Academic All-American and 2019 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year
- 2018 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team member and 2018 SEC Community Service Team member
- Winner of UGA’s Billy Payne Award for graduating with at least a 3.0 GPA and being on the football team for four years
- Finalist for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is given to the country’s most outstanding former walk-on who turns into a significant contributor on his team
ELENA CHRISTOFI, Georgia, Tennis
Major: Finance
- An All-American in doubles (2017) and All-SEC selection (2017, 2018, 2019)
- Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team (2017, 2018, 2019)
- Google Cloud/CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large First Team (2019)
- SEC Honor Roll (2017, 2018, 2019)
- UGA Dean’s List Honors (2017, 2018, 2019)
- J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Honor Roll (2017, 2018, 2019)
- UGA Scholar-Athlete Award for Women’s Tennis for Highest GPA (2017, 2018)
- Four-year starter in singles and doubles and 2020 team was the favorite to win the SEC; Bulldogs were 8-2 and ranked as high as No. 2 during 2020 season
- Career-best national ranking of No. 8 in singles and No. 6 in doubles
- Helped Georgia to 2019 National Team Indoor Championship, SEC title and NCAA runner-up finish and No. 2 final ranking
- Named Co-Captain for 2019 and 2020 seasons and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee since 2018
The SEC provides the league’s male and female McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year Post-Graduate Scholarship recipients with a $20,000 post-graduate scholarship. The 26 remaining male and female finalists for the award will also receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship.
