NATCHITOCHES – Senior offensive lineman Chris Zirkle's on-field play has earned him numerous accolades during his Northwestern State football career.
 
What Zirkle has done away from the gridiron put him in elite company Tuesday morning as the American Football Coaches Association revealed nominees for the 2019 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.
 
Zirkle, a 6-foot-2, 287-pound product of League City, Texas, was the lone Southland Conference and Louisiana student-athlete among the 59 candidates from NCAA FCS, Division II, Division III, and NAIA schools that will comprise half of the 22-member Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, which will be announced Sept. 12. In addition to the 11 members from the combined divisions ballot, 11 players will be chosen from a field of 78 FBS nominees.
 
Zirkle becomes the first Northwestern State football player nominated for the Good Works Team since JeMarcus Marshall was a candidate for the 2016 team. In 2011, Yaser Elqutub became the first NSU player to be named to the Good Works Team and was voted as the captain of year's edition.
 
The Allstate AFCA Good Works Team was established in 1992 and honors student-athletes on the basis of community service. The 22-person team and an honorary coach are selected by a voting panel consisting of former Good Works Team members and media members who look for dedication to service as well as the embodiment of leadership on and off the field.
 
A second-team preseason All-Southland Conference selection, Zirkle was named the Southland Conference's male representative at the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum in Orlando, Florida, in April.
 
He earned his undergraduate degree in business administration in December 2018, graduating magna cum laude, and is pursuing a master's degree in homeland security. He is a member of NSU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and served as the organization's Community Service Outreach Coordinator during the 2018-19 academic year.
 
A second-team All-Southland Conference selection in 2017, Zirkle played the final four games of the 2018 season, preserving a season of eligibility under the NCAA's new redshirt guidelines. He and the Demons open their 2019 season Aug. 29 at UT Martin.