Penn State football players are many things.

They're students, first and foremost, and they usually get pretty good grades.

They're athletes, working hard every day to stay in shape for the coming season.

They're role models for other students and players.

And they're philanthropists.

What?

Sure, philanthropists.

You see, Penn State football's annual Lift for Life contest isn't just a great thing for the players to participate in during their summer break; it's also run by them.

"One of the most unique things about Lift for Life is that it's designed to be run completely by current players," rising senior receiver Brett Brackett explains. Brackett is the president of the Penn State Football chapter of Uplifting Athletes — a non-profit organization that works with college football players to raise awareness for rare diseases.

"It's similar to the United Way and the NFL," Brackett adds. "Each chapter can pick their own rare disease that they want to raise money and awareness for, so if you have a certain connection to a particular disease, you can choose to sponsor that one."

Penn State's focus is on kidney cancer, as former player Scott Shirley lost his father to the disease in 2005. And the players involved in the Lift for Life event have raised more than $400,000 for the Kidney Cancer Association the past seven years.

"I do everything," explains Brackett, when asked what his role is. "Run the show, do the marketing, set up the event, sign up and get the PA announcers there. ... You name it, I gotta do it."

He has also done live interviews with several broadcast stations, including Froggy, WTAJ in Altoona and the local ESPN station. In addition, he's helped set up the Facebook fan page, and even arranged for a billboard on U.S. Route 322 promoting last year's event.

But he's not the only one.

Twenty-six total players are members of the 2010 Uplifting Athletes organization, including Vice President Mike Farrell, Head of Operations Ty Howle, and Secretary Mike Yancich.

"It's a great experience, doing this for a cause that gets overlooked by so many people," red-shirt freshman center Howle says. As Head of Operations, he deals with behind-the-scenes work, such as setting up the weights in Holuba Hall with John Thomas, Penn State's strength coach. He also coordinates the transportation of tables from the Nittany Lion Inn for displaying the auction items.

While Howle is busy making arrangements for the event, red-shirt sophomore offensive lineman Farrell is out promoting it. As VP, he is in charge of scheduling all those interviews that Brackett did, occasionally participating in them as well. "Along with (all that), I'm in charge of media this year," he explains, "and that entails sending out an e-mail to everyone on the list, inviting them to the event, and then keeping track of RSVPs so we can have media passes for photographers and reporters."

And how do all these guys know exactly what to do and when to do it? That's where red-shirt sophomore linebacker Yancich comes in. As the secretary, he's in charge of taking notes at the weekly chapter meetings, creating bulleted lists, and e-mailing the info to Brackett afterward. He also creates agendas for meetings and files the contact information of companies who have donated.

"It's an important job," he says. "You have to have communication to run a successful organization. I feel like we've raised a lot more this year because of the increased media coverage."

It's also a great opportunity. Being a member of Uplifting Athletes can give players valuable, hands-on business experience that they would otherwise get from an internship, but can't because of the need to train and work out during the off-season.

"You're dealing with all these different aspects of business ... throwing you right into the business-related environment," adds Brackett. "And guys that have put this on their resume have been very successful in the past."

But he makes sure to mention the fact that giving back to the community is what counts the most.

"We really feel good about what we can do for the community," he adds. "The most rewarding part is being able to leverage the notoriety that we get as Penn State players to raise awareness for kidney cancer. It's so great when you talk to someone who's benefited from what we've done, whether their husband has kidney cancer, or someone in their family ... they feel like someone has their back. It's a great feeling when you hear those stories."

When the doors finally closed on Holuba Hall Friday evening, the final tally read $98,461. The total amount raised over the 8-year-old event's lifetime is now $500,000.

Six new treatments have been developed to cure kidney cancer in those eight years.

As for the players, they've contributed something to their community that's beyond anything they will accomplish during the 2010 season. They've sweated it out for a cause much greater than Penn State football ...

... a different kind of team.