A former Alcovy High School football player has just received one of the most prestigious off-the-field honors in college football.
Duke cornerback DeVon Edwards, who graduated from Alcovy in 2012, was named to the 2016 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team for his work in the community, joining 23 other recipients from across the NCAA and NAIA.
When not playing football, Edwards regularly volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House of Durham, North Carolina, the Boys and Girls Club for Greater Durham, North Carolina and Bull City Fit, a community-based wellness program for patients and families of the Duke Children’s Healthy Lifestyles Program that combats childhood obesity.
Additionally, he visits patients at Duke Children’s Hospital and Levine Children’s Hospital, and he also volunteers at the Kid’s Club in Oxford Manor, a single mothers’ housing project in Durham, where he serves as a male mentor to the underprivileged children who live there.
In July, Duke announced the former Tiger was named to the preseason watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, an award given every year to the top defensive player in the nation. While a player for Alcovy, Edwards helped the Tigers to a division championship as a senior and two state playoff berths in 2009 and 2011, and he set school single-season records for all-purpose yards, total touchdowns and kickoff returns for touchdowns while becoming just the third player in school history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season (1,009).
The Good Works Team is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The 24 recipients of this year’s award are comprised of 12 players from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and 12 players from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III and the NAIA. They, along with honorary head coach Mark Richt from the University of Miami, were selected from 165 nominees.
Fans will have the opportunity to vote for the 2016 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team Captain by visiting ESPN.com/Allstate.
The Team Captain, along with his fellow award recipients, will be invited to New Orleans to be honored on the field during halftime of the 2017 Allstate Sugar Bowl and take part in a special youth football clinic before the game.
