Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic

Southern California redshirt senior defensive lineman Nick Figueroa was named the Dan S. Petty Scholar-Athlete for the Trojans participating in the 87th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

Figueroa was a 2022 Academic All-America selection by College Sports Communicators and the 2022 Pac-12 Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the 21^st Trojan to receive Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors and the first USC football recipient.
 
Earning his bachelor's degree in real estate development at USC in the spring of 2021 with a 3.76 GPA, Figueroa is now working on a master's in finance. The native of San Bernardino, Calif. graduated Magna Cum Laude from USC's Price School of Public Policy, where he was a two-time David X Marks Scholar Athlete (2020 and 2021) and a Stevens Scholar.
 
Figueroa was also a William V. Campbell Trophy semifinalist in both 2021 and 2022, a Lott IMPACT Trophy quarterfinalist in 2022 and a semifinalist for the 2021 the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year and the Senior CLASS Awards. 
 
In 2021, Figueroa made the CoSIDA Academic All-American second team and earned placement on the 2021 and 2022 CoSIDA Academic All-District team. Also in 2021, he won USC's Trojan Howard Jones/Football Alumni Club Academic Award and received the Co-Lifters Award. 
 
Named to the Phil Steele All-Pac-12 third team as a sophomore, Figueroa was a 2020 All-Pac-12 honorable mention and a Pro Football Focus All-Pac-12 honorable mention.   
 
A veteran leader on the Trojan defense, the scholar-athlete has tallied 67 career tackles, with 16.5 for loss and nine sacks, two pass deflections, one fumble recovery and a blocked kick in his career. 
 
Off the field, Figueroa served with USC's Society 53 external affair committee, is a member of the Marshall Real Estate Finance Association (USC's premiere undergraduate real estate organization) and is a Price Latino Student Association member. 
 
Figueroa, who has been very involved with philanthropic endeavors and charity work at USC, is an active member of the Trojan Outreach program (USC Athletics' philanthropic efforts) and volunteers with Second Spoon (a non-profit organization that distributes food to the homeless). He also volunteered at Safe Place for Youth (an organization in Venice, Calif. focused on serving homeless youth) and helped remodel an apartment at the Jenesse Center for Domestic Violence Prevention and Intervention.