SENIOR FRANKIE McFARLAND has won a Provost Scholarship to the University of Illinois covering full tuition for up to four years.

The U of I awards up to 30 such scholarships annually to applicants who have been honored in the National Achievement, National Hispanic Recognition, or National Merit competitions and who have indicated the U of I as their top choice.

Recipients must be Illinois residents and must maintain a 3.0 grade point average each year for their scholarships to be renewed.

Although McFarland has applied to other colleges, he said the U of I is "looking like it's going to be my school." He plans to major in community health.

A three-sport athlete at Uni (basketball, track and field, cross country), McFarland would like to keep playing sports at the U of I, only this time it would be something different: football.

"Well, I'm a big guy," said the 6-foot-2, 260-pound McFarland. "So everybody talks about me playing football. I played in eighth grade, and I really liked it, but unfortunately I wasn't able to co-op with another school and play through high school. I just love football so much I'm going to try to walk on wherever I go."

If McFarland does walk on, he would like to give linebacker or fullback a try.

"I was good at blocking in eighth grade," he said. "But basically whatever they need me to do I'll do."

Earlier this year, McFarland was one of just 1,600 students to be named a 2008 semifinalist in the National Achievement Scholarship Program, an academic competition run by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The program was established in 1964 to recognize outstanding black American high school seniors. About 140,000 students entered the 2008 competition by marking Section 14 on the PSAT/NMSQT when they were juniors.

According to the program's Web site, National Achievement Semifinalists are named on a regional basis. Semifinalists are the highest-scoring program participants in the states that constitute each region.