Former Georgia Bulldogs great Matt Stinchcomb is doing his part to shine the light on the positive things going on in college football.
With all the negative attention that is shone on sports and athletes, it’s always nice to find the positive and uplifting stories.
With the First Pick
Former Georgia offensive linemen Matt Stinchcomb is doing his part to make sure that the world knows about the exceptional work that many college football players are doing as part of the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team committee.
The AFCA Good Works Team is celebrating its 23rd year, and is comprised of 22 college football players whose community service activities and selfless acts stand out among the many student-athletes participating in the sport. The winners are selected by a special voting panel from nominations submitted by sports information directors on behalf of their teams
I had the opportunity to speak with Matt about this initiative, and what being named to the AFCA Good Works Team means to players and to college football as a whole.
“It’s important that during times like these when the media is so focused on all the negative, that we have a way to show how many good kids there are in the sport today,” Stinchcomb told me. “These kids are shining examples of what the majority in college football are really like.
“The idea is to preserve college football, and all that it stands for, and not let the flow of negative information be the way the sport is viewed or shaped.”
Matt was named to the honor twice during his time at Georgia, but said that players are much more involved now than when he was playing. “I probably would never make the cut now,” he chuckled. “These kids today are just so incredibly involved in their communities and in service, doing things that I would have never dreamed of. I was a good kid, and cared about my community, but these guys just blow me away.”
Stinchcomb is a member of the committee that chooses the final 22 players on the team, and it’s no easy task for them to whittle down the names.
“We received 182 nominations this year,” he said. “And there is a good reason for every one of these kids to win the award. There are so many doing so much outstanding work. It’s not uncommon for us to get two or three nominations from the same team either.”
If you’d like to see more about the AFCA Good Works Team, you can check out some inspirational stories of the team members (including UGA’s Chris Conley) , and vote for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team captain. by visiting ESPN.com/Allstate