Oregon freshman linebacker Sampson Niu, a U.S. Army All-American from San Diego, is a finalist for the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame's West Region Scholar-Athlete Award, the NFF announced Wednesday.
The NFF will honor five regional Scholar-Athlete Award winners at its NFF Chapter Awards Luncheon in New York on Dec. 5. Niu was named one of seven finalists from the West Region after leading Madison High to a CIF Division 2-AA state championship last fall, and finishing his high school career with a cumulative GPA of 3.61.
Niu was a consensus top-20 inside linebacker recruit in the country for 2017, and played in the 2017 Polynesian Bowl as well as the U.