The following is a release courtesy Notre Dame athletics:
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Senior offensive guard Chris Stewart, senior kicker David Ruffer and senior defensive back Barry Gallup Jr. were named to the ESPN The
Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for District 5 on Thursday.
Stewart and Gallup are each taking graduate level courses, while Ruffer is
an economics major. All three will get placed on the national ballot for the
ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America Team.
Stewart, the only player in Notre Dame's storied football history to tackle
football and law school simultaneously, graduated with a degree from the
College of Arts and Letters in history. He finished his undergraduate
studies in only three and a half years with a 3.536 cumulative grade-point
average. Stewart registered a 3.834 GPA in his final semester (2009 spring).
He was a 2009 ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-District selection.
Stewart was a member of the History Honors Program and was inducted into the
Phi Alpha Theta honor fraternity.
The National Football Foundation has already chosen Stewart as a National
Scholar-Athlete. He will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and is
one of 16 finalists for the 21st William V. Campbell Trophy, endowed by
HealthSouth, which recognizes an individual as the absolute best
scholar-athlete in the nation and often referred to as "The Academic
Heisman."
Stewart has started more career games (31) than any other Irish player on
the offensive side of the ball. He also carries a 23-game starting streak
into this weekend's contest with Utah. Stewart helped the Irish finish last
season as the eighth-best offense in the country, averaging 451.8 yards per
game, and is helping the Notre Dame passing attack outgain opponents
288.6-228.6 yards per game this season.
Actively involved in numerous outreach efforts, Stewart journeyed to Haiti
during his 2009 spring break to help with the relief efforts following the
deadliest earthquake in the nation's history. He volunteered all last summer
at the South Bend Youth Center and has participated in a fine arts
initiative for area children. Stewart has also visited local children's
hospitals and raised funds for the St. Baldrick's Foundation.
Ruffer has accumulated a 3.90 GPA while studying economics. He has excelled
on the field as well. Ruffer has been named a semifinalist for the 2010 Lou
Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award presented by the Discover Orange Bowl.
Ruffer has connected on all 13 of his field goal attempts and made 25 of 27
extra-point attempts in 2010. His only two misses were each blocked. Ruffer
has actually converted 18 consecutive field goals dating back to the
Pittsburgh contest in 2009. The 18 straight field goals is the longest
streak in school history and tied with Joe Phillips of Utah for the longest
active streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Ruffer is also one of only
two kickers in the FBS still perfect through at least 13 field goal
attempts.
Ruffer recorded a field goal in 11 straight games, each game in which he has
served as the Irish place kicker, before the streak ended against Tulsa. The
11 consecutive games with a field goal is tied for the second-longest streak
in school history and longest by a Notre Dame kicker since Nicholas Setta
set the school record with a field goal in 16 straight games (2000-02).
Ruffer's 50-yard field goal against Pittsburgh earlier this season, which
actually bested the previous school record for consecutive field goals, was
tied for the sixth-longest field goal in school history. It was the longest
field goal by an Irish player since D.J. Fitzpatrick booted a 50-yarder
against Syracuse on Dec. 6, 2003. Ruffer became the sixth place kicker in
school history to connect on a field goal of 50 yards or longer.
Gallup is one of three fifth-year seniors on the Irish roster joining
Stewart and center Dan Wenger. He has appeared in 27 games at Notre Dame,
totaled 163 yards on nine kickoff returns in 2009 and three career tackles,
including one for loss. Gallup graduated from the Mendoza College of
Business with a finance degree in just three years with an undergraduate GPA
of 3.465. He was then accepted into Notre Dame's one-year MBA program, but
will defer entry until 2010. Gallup is currently enrolled in the graduate
studies program.