Graduate linebacker Jack Kiser has been nominated to the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy Watch List, college football’s premier award for community service which recognizes college football athletes who are inspired to serve others and make positive impacts on society.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Trophy’s founding. The Allstate Wuerffel Trophy is named after Danny Wuerffel, the 1996 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from the University of Florida who parlayed his success on the football field into a lifetime of service.
In 2018, Notre Dame linebacker Drue Tranquill earned the Wuerffel Trophy, Notre Dame’s first winner of the award.
Returning for his final season, Kiser owns 185 career tackles and will assume a key leadership role on the Irish defense heading into 2024 as one of the most tenured players in the program.
Kiser has participated in several community-facing initiatives during his time at Notre Dame. In the offseason, he has organized teammates to visit local charities. He served as the Fighting Irish Fight for Life football team lead for the past three years, from Fall 2020-Spring 2023, a program which pairs a local pediatric patient with Notre Dame Athletics teams to become a true teammate. Additionally, Kiser worked with local low-income families to perform tax returns this past spring on a weekly basis leading up to Tax Day.
Kiser has also been involved in the Notre Dame chapter of Uplifting Athletes, supporting the local rare disease community and their families, and would also regularly visit patients and families at the Ronald McDonald House with Freeman. He earned selection to the 2024 National Football Foundation Honor Society, and in 2023 was awarded the Dean’s Graduate Business Award and the Tom Frecka Academic Achievement Award, recognizing the top GPA in the Master’s of Science in Accountancy program at Notre Dame.