A leader on and off the field, senior defensive lineman Kingsley Jonathan has been named a semifinalist for the Jason Witten Man of the Year Award.
.@Kingg_J1 is a semifinalist for the @WittenCMOY Award!
More: https://t.co/Jl0glWxlCv pic.twitter.com/jO4pQcoKM7
— Syracuse Football (@CuseFootball) November 17, 2020
Jonathan, who originally hails from Lagos, Nigeria, is heavily active in a number of initiatives to better his fellow student-athletes and the Syracuse community. One-of-20 semifinalists, the award is the first college football honor to focus primarily on a player’s leadership both on and off the field.
Jonathan has been an advocate for his fellow student-athletes with the NCAA as part of the NCAA Division I Autonomy process. He’s 1-of-15 Division I athletes with voting power in NCAA rule changes. He’s just the fourth ACC football student-athlete in the history of this process to represent all athletes. He also is part of the ACC Search Advisory Committee, where he’s one-of-five student-athletes on the advisory board in the search process for the next commissioner. He is also a member of the Syracuse Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Jonathan has also served on the newly founded Diversity and Inclusion Student-Athlete Board, which strives to be a force for change that inspires and provides a forum for student-athletes to speak up for what they believe and how they feel. DISAB fosters better communication between student-athletes, their teammates, the athletic administration, and Syracuse University as a whole.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].