Lawrence’s Walter, Lawrenceville’s Cosover to be granted top scholar status
Lawrence High and Lawrenceville Prep might not be foes on the football field, but Lawrence’s Graham Walter and Lawrenceville’s Peyton Cosover have a fair amount in common on and off the field.
It is because of their effort on and off the field that they have been selected as their school’s honoree at the Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame’s 61st Annual George Wah Scholar-Leader-Athlete Awards Ceremony.
The awards ceremony will been held on March 12th, at the Princeton Marriott at Forrestal and will begin a 3 p.m.
The Foundation and it’s sponsors honor high school football players from 21 schools in Burlington, Hunterdon, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean Counties as well as a Scholar-Athlete-Leader from Princeton University and The College of New Jersey.
Tickets are $75.00 and can be purchased by contacting Steve Tuckerson, Dinner Chair at delval. nffhf@gmail.com
There wasn’t much Walter didn’t do for the Cardinals on the football field this past fall. As a two-way player, linebacker and tight end. He has three catches, including a touchdown, 25 tackles and he never came off the field.
“Graham Walter is the consummate student-athlete who makes coaching a pleasure,” said Lawrence coach Rob Radice. “He is well respected and liked by his coaches, teammates,
teachers and his peers. He is the type of person you love to coach and love to be associated with. He makes the people around him work harder and is a true leader.
Also, a lacrosse player, Walter maintains a 3.88 GPA, a member of the National Honor Society, he is involved in Student Government and he volunteers win Arm in Arm in Princeton, Read Across America and several other organizations.
“Graham is a hardworking, determined, insightful student,” said English teacher, Erica Ingram. “Graham is an extrovert who always participated in class discussion and voiced his opinions on literature as well as current worldly issues. He is an honest and courteous young man, yet these descriptive words on paper do not do Graham justice. Graham is the student every teacher wishes they had in their classroom. He is kind, helpful, caring and above all a leader and role model for other students.”
He was just as impressive as a member of the football team.
“He is a person who always
puts the team first and leads by example,” added Radice. “He always gives 100 percent in practice, games, and in school. He is very unselfish and always puts the team ahead of himself. He is one of the most wellrounded student-athletes I have had the pleasure of teaching and coaching in my thirty-two-year career. Character, outstanding work ethic, strong values, great leader, compassionate, committed, respectful toward others, are all just a few of the traits Graham possesses.”
The traits of Lawrenceville’s Peyton Cosover are quite impressive, too.
He faced plenty of adversity between injuries, Covid and a new coach, but through it all he continued to grow and stay focused on and off the field.
“Both Peyton and I arrived at Lawrenceville in the summer of 2021,” said Lawrenceville coach Napoleon Sykes. “Neither of us knew what we were getting into. Peyton was arriving at a new school with a coach that he really knew nothing about. The Cosover’s felt like Lawrenceville was a great opportunity academically, athletically and socially for Peyton, so they spoke with the coaches here and ultimately decided to come here. Prior to him arriving on campus, there was a coaching change, so he was entering a big unknown. The minute I was hired, he was the first kid to shoot me a message, and then soon after, a phone call. You could hear the excitement in his voice.”
That excitement shown on the football field as the quarterback led the Big Red to a 7-2 season and he threw for close to 3,000 yards.
Cosover’s classwork is just as impressive with a 3.70 GPA and a member of the National Honor Society, the Dean’s List and Eglin Society Citizenship Award for Kindness, Selflessness and Moral Courage.
“He is one of the most humble young men I have ever been around,” said Sykes. “His faith is extremely important to him, and he is vocal about that. He is always looking for ways to serve, whether he is serving as a Prefect in the dorm, helping younger teammates or housemates with homework, or simply just hanging with my young kids at the dining hall. He is just a great kid with a big heart. On the field, he is a student of the game. He is always trying to find ways to improve, not only for his personal development, but because he wants to be the best teammate possible. If you’d ask Peyton what his job was, he would say, ‘To help all of my brothers meet their goals. I want to play as best that I can, so everyone has success.”