Eastern Kentucky University issued the following announcement.
Tyler Swafford, former EKU football player and graduate of the nationally prominent EKU Honors program, recently received the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Swafford was one of 42 fall sports student athletes from all NCAA levels to receive $10,000 for graduate study at a university or professional school.
"I am grateful to receive this scholarship from the NCAA, which will help in paying for tuition during my last year of law school," Swafford said. "It's an honor to be a recipient along with fellow NCAA athletes around the country whose opportunity to earn a graduate or professional degree was, without question, enhanced by the invigorating experience of being a student-athlete."
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage graduate education. The scholarships are awarded to 126 student athletes every year who excel academically and athletically, demonstrate leadership skills and maintain involvement on campus and in their communities.
Swafford was a member of the Colonel football team for three seasons. After redshirting during the 2014 season, the quarterback played in 14 games during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. In 2016, Swafford had 940 passing yards, five passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. He went five-for-six with a touchdown pass at Purdue, threw for a season-best 289 yards versus Murray State and tossed two touchdown passes while helping EKU tie the program record for points in a game at Austin Peay.
At EKU, Swafford maintained a 4.0 grade point average and eventually graduated as an Honors Scholar with a bachelor’s degree in globalization and international affairs. On Nov. 19, 2016, he was chosen as EKU's first Mitchell Scholar, and the first from a public institution of higher learning in Kentucky. The scholarship allowed him to spend the 2017-18 academic year working on a postgraduate degree in geopolitics and global economy at University College Dublin in Ireland. Following the 2016 season, Swafford received the 2016 Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. The award is given each year to a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) student-athlete who excels not only on the field and in the classroom, but in the community and beyond.
Swafford’s achievements and involvement did not end with his time as a Colonel, however. He is currently in his second year of law school at Georgetown University. He serves as a senior editor of the American Criminal Law Review, a premier criminal law journal housed on the Georgetown campus. The Brentwood, Tennessee native is also on the moot court team, which participates in competitions simulating a court hearing. The Georgetown team recently advanced to the national semifinals of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, where Swafford was named Best Oralist for the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Region. He is completing an internship as a law clerk in the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Fraud Section.
After law school, Swafford plans to either join a Washington, D.C. law firm working in litigation and government investigations or to become a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice.
Original source can be found here.
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