Toledo’s Cody Thompson named nominee for Allstate Good Works Team

It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day of intercollegiate athletics and forget just what student athletes have to balance in the course of their normal comings and goings. For most, it’s a gigantic challenge to simply balance their athletics and academics, so when someone comes along that garners national recognition for not just that, but also their community involvement and commitment, it is most certainly worth some press. When that recognition falls on a Mid-American Conference student athlete, then consider is all in.

For Toledo’s Cody Thompson, that recognition has come in the form of being nominated to the 2017 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. It is the best of the best of those we cheer for on the field for the commitment and excellence to all things off of it.

From Toledo’s release:

Toledo senior wide receiver Cody Thompson (Huron, Ohio) has been nominated for the 2017 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. Every year, the Allstate Insurance Company and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) honor college football players who balance academics and athletics, while remaining committed to helping others and bettering their communities.

Thompson was a first-team All-MAC selection in 2016. He caught 64 passes for a school-record 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was ninth in the nation with 19.8 yards per reception.

Thompson, who earned Academic All-MAC honors in 2016, is a marketing major with a 3.664 grade point average. He has volunteered for numerous community activities and organizations, including the Toledo Boys and Girls Club, Ronald McDonald House, Cherry Street Mission, RockeThon for Mercy Children's Hospital, Kids Day at the Glass City Marathon, Rocket Football Victory Day, the Toledo Crash wheelchair football team, and many others.

A total of 146 student-athletes from all levels of college football were nominated for the award. A final roster of 22 award recipients will be unveiled in September. From the nominees submitted by sports information directors across the nation on behalf of their schools, a special voting panel consisting of former Allstate AFCA Good Works Team members and prominent college football media members will select the 2017 Good Works Team. Once the final team members are announced in September, fans are encouraged to visit the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team website on ESPN.com, featuring profiles and images of the players, for the opportunity to vote for the 2017 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team Captain.

The easy narrative these days is to point to myriad stories of athletes behaving badly, or giant coach salaries, or a whole host of other things that in general call the entire enterprise of athletics into question. Cody Thompson and the entire Good Works Team shows in stark detail how the positions and talents granted to your favorite student athletes can be used for actual good and making a difference. Congrats to Cody Thompson and let’s hope that he makes it on the final roster.