Cal Football National Award Candidate Elijah Hicks - An All-American On And Off The Field

Elijah's Top Accomplishments

— 2021 Campbell Trophy Semifinalist, Jason Witten Collegiate Man Of The Year and Wuerffel Trophy Semifinalist

— Founded a nonprofit organization called Intercept Poverty and then raised nearly $70,000 to help families feed their school-aged children during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and has now begun a program to award emergency grants to Cal students in need of financial assistance
— Leads Cal and is tied for second in the Pac-12 in forced fumbles (3, #T13 NCAA) and forced fumbles per game (0.33, #T14 NCAA) as a 2021 senior
— Co-leads the 2021 squad with three interceptions and is second with 50 tackles while adding 5.5 tackles for loss (-15 yards), 1.0 sack (-8 yards) and two pass breakups
— Has played in all 51 games possible with 43 starts over the last four-plus seasons since his arrival in January of 207 and is Cal's active career leader with 191 tackles and five forced fumbles, while adding 14.5 tackles for loss (-40 yards), 3.0 sacks (-15 yards), five interceptions that he has returned for a combined 66 yards and one touchdown, and 14 pass breakups

Elijah's Story

Elijah Hicks is one of 12 siblings and by nature always looking for ways to help others. As he's said on many occasions, it is just the way he is wired. When Elijah was young there wasn't always food on the table, much money to go around, or even a bed in his house to sleep on many times. Even though his parents were supportive, there were still a lot of mouths to feed and people to house, so he was taken in by different families throughout his childhood including two in high school to give him a better chance at success. Instead of letting his childhood be a negative and letting it bring him down, it really shaped him into who he is today. 

Fast forward to the fall of 2021 and Elijah is doing big things on the field, in the classroom and in the community. He is an NFL prospect, one of Cal's top players and arguably one of the best safeties in the nation. 

In addition to his athletic accomplishments listed above, in the classroom Elijah has already earned a bachelor's degree in American studies from Cal with a 3.29 GPA in December of 2020 and a graduate certificate in entrepreneurship this past May, while he is currently working on another graduate certificate in business administration.

Even though Elijah has been great on the field and in the classroom, a case can be made that his best work has been in the community. About two years ago, he came to a group of people in the Cal athletic department and shared some of his ideas with us and now for nearly two years he has been implementing a couple of them. Elijah has had two major projects with the Intercept Poverty Foundation non-profit organization he founded with the first being partnering with No Kid Hungry to raise nearly $70,000 to feed children of families adversely affected by COVID-19. His primary vehicle was a video featuring a couple of his teammates and some other players from the Pac-12 making people aware of the need to help and asking for donations. His second big and ongoing project is an emergency grant program that he is just getting off the ground teaming up with Scholarship America. The goal is to award emergency grants of $500-$700 to Cal students in need of financial aid. He also volunteered extensively at UC Berkeley's Basic Needs Center during the fall of 2019 and last month went back there to help again and record a video feature on him produced by the Pac-12 Network that you can see in the clips below.