June 13, 2008
DAVIS, Calif. - UC Davis senior quarterback Matt Engle's athletic career was capped by a game-winning 18-yard touchdown pass to defeat the University of San Diego. His career as an outstanding student will also end on a high note as the El Segundo, Calif. native was recently selected as the 2008 recipient of the V. Glen Winslow Jr. Award, presented annually to the male graduating senior at UC Davis who best exemplifies leadership, scholarship, integrity and service.
Engle joins former Aggie Chris Jones as Aggie football players to receive the prestigious Winslow Award in the past three years. His tenure at UC Davis includes more than 40 different activities, honors and awards. Included are roles as the executive director of Grace-In-Action (a group that provides services to the homeless community), serving as a lab assistant in the Department of Neuroscience, and serving as the president of the campus's Athletes in Action.
Engle also wrote a grant to secure funding to lead a group of volunteers to go to Mississippi to rebuild 12 homes after Hurricane Katrina and on Student-Athlete Advisory Committees for both UC Davis and the Big West Conference. He is a Dean's List honoree who also received Great West Football Conference All-Academic recognition and was named to the 10th annual Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association All-Star Team for academic and athletics achievement.
Engle enjoyed the best season of his four-year Aggie football career in 2007 by throwing for 1,889 yards and 14 touchdowns. Nearly all of those totals came after he assumed the starting quarterback duties in the seventh game. Engle started the final five games of the season, tossing three touchdowns in four of them.
Engle posted his first 300-yard game as an Aggie when he threw for 302 yards during UC Davis' 31-26 win over Sacramento State on Nov. 3, but saved his most dramatic play for the season finale against San Diego. Engle, who completed 26 of 40 passes for a career-high 409 yards and three touchdowns in that game, led the Aggies on a game-winning 63-yard drive in the final minute, capping the exciting victory with an 18-yard strike to Brandon Rice with 18 seconds to go.
In recognition of his selection as the most outstanding graduating senior male at UC Davis,Engle will receive a plaque and $500 from Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef at commencement.
Jones, who received the award in 2005, is currently completing his third year of medical school at UC San Francisco.
