Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

Callaway High graduate Jared Nation is in select company.

Nation, a multi-sport standout at Callaway and the school’s valedictorian, is one of 82 student-athletes from across the country to make the National Football Foundation’s 2020 Team of Distinction.

Nation, who was Callaway’s valedictorian, was selected from a pool of more than 3,000 football players, and he and the other honorees will be a part of a permanent digital display at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

According to the NFF’s web site, the “criteria to make the team include but are not limited to academic achievement, athletic accolades and community involvement.”

Nation was a four-year member of the Callaway football team, and his contributions as an offensive lineman helped the Cavaliers go 12-2 last season and reach the state semifinals.

Nation also exceled in tennis at Callaway, and he helped the team make it to the third round of the state tournament in 2019.

Nation also wrestled at Callaway, and he was a member of the track team this spring, although he didn’t get to compete because the season was cut short because of the coronavirus.

“The football team is amazing to be a part of. It’s a family,” Nation said. “But it’s not just that, it’s all Callaway athletics in general. I love being a part of the football team, but it was the tennis team, and I was a part of the wrestling team, and I was planning on doing track until the coronavirus happened. When you’re an athlete at Callaway High School, you’re a part of the family, no matter what team it is.”

Nation’s latest honor adds to an already impressive resume.

Nation is a member of the National Honor Society, he was the recipient of the High School Heisman Scholarship, he earned the Kiwanis Club of LaGrange Robert E Gordon Scholarship, and he has earned a number of other honors and scholarships.