WACO, Texas - Utica College linebacker Ryan Oliver (Vernon Center, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill), a graduate student, has been chosen to receive one of college football's highest honors. The American Football Coaches' Association has announced that Oliver has been selected to the 2019 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®. 

The prestigious award is presented each year to a handful of college football players who are actively involved with a charitable organization or service group while also maintaining a strong academic standing.

The exclusive honor has been around for over a quarter century, and is bestowed upon just 22 collegiate football players from around the nation each year. 11 of the honorees are selected from the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, and the other 11 spots are filled with outstanding individuals from the Division I Football Championship Subdivision, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and the NAIA. The select list of honorees is chosen from a group of 137 nominees by a panel that includes prominent figures in the world of college football, including ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit and Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Tim Tebow.

Oliver earns the nod for his work with the Haiti Rehabilitation Project. He was part of the original group that began work to establish a physical rehabilitation clinic to serve people in need of physical and occupational therapy services in Gonaives, Haiti. Ryan has traveled there each year since to work with Physical and Occupational Therapists. The team's focus is on the provision of free rehabilitation services to children who have cerebral palsy or who have other pathologies (eg, stroke or amputation). They also teach local therapists and staff various rehabilitation techniques so that they can continue to provide services for these children.

In January, Ryan led a team of four college students, including three from Utica, on a service trip. The trip was completely self-funded by the students. The group ventured to a remote village where they provided assistance to a school and orphanage in the form of school supplies and other resources. In addition, a regional hardship had resulted in the school's teachers not receiving pay for their services over a six month period. Ryan and his team were able to raise the necessary money to reimburse those teachers, and have them be paid for several months afterwards.
 
Throughout the year he participates in fundraising activities to support the Haiti Rehab Project. These have included organizing and participating in wheelchair basketball tournaments, dining to donate, wine and paint, and the development and operation of a golf tournament.

As an award winner, Oliver will be invited to New Orleans, Louisiana to participate in a special community service project alongside his fellow honorees. He will also be recognized at halftime of the 2020 Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, while also getting an opportunity to take in one of college football's premier postseason games.  To vote for Ryan as the captain of the Good Works Team, click HERE

The recognition not only represents an outstanding individual accomplishment, but is also a continued testament to the culture of the Utica College football program. Last season, running back Malcolm Stowe (Coram, NY/Longwood) was on the short list of players to be nominated.

Utica College Head Football Coach Blaise Faggiano has enjoyed a long relationship with Oliver and his family. He was quick to highlight the qualities that have made Oliver special in his time with the Pioneers, and in turn guided him on an incredible ascent to one of the sport's highest honors.

"Ryan Oliver (Vernon Center, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) is a special individual," Faggiano said. "He embodies everything that our program believes in. He is as well-rounded of an individual that i have had the pleasure to coach. He has excelled on the field, has excelled in academics, and has gone above and beyond in his community service between all the things our program does, and then that extra initiative he has demonstrated with the Haiti rehab project."

For more information on the Good Works Team, visit https://www.afca.com.

Oliver and the Pioneers are back in action at Gaetano Stadium on Saturday, September 14th as they host Buffalo State College. Kickoff is slated for noon.