For a second-consecutive season, Kansas State senior quarterback Skylar Thompson has been named a candidate for the Wuerffel Trophy – which honors college football players who serve others, celebrate their positive impact on society, and inspire greater service in the world – the award's committee announced Thursday.

It marks the seventh-straight season a Wildcat has been up for the award, which includes 2018 finalist Dalton Risner.

Thompson, a native of Independence, Missouri, has been active in Big Brothers Big Sisters for multiple years, while he has also reached out to youth who have been going through struggling times, even inviting one to a game in 2019. His desire to help kids through hardship stems from the own adversity he endured as a kid that was detailed through his own first-person story In His Own Words – Keep Surviving.

Entering his second senior season, Thompson ranked in the top 10 in school history of 15 career categories. The Independence, Missouri, native is just the second player in school history to throw for 5,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards, while he can be the first to pass for 6,000 yards while also rushing for 1,000 yards in a career. Thompson, who was an All-Big 12 performer in 2019, led K-State to a win at No. 3 Oklahoma – the Wildcats' first road win over a top-five team – prior to being hurt in the third game of the year and lost for the rest of the season.

Kansas State opens the 2021 slate at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in the Allstate Kickoff Classic against Stanford on September 4.