C-USA 2013 All Academic Football Team

[Harry]

2013 C-USA Football All-Academic Team (*repeat selection)

*Adhem Elsawi - East Carolina - Senior - 3.60 - Psychology

Warren Harvey - East Carolina - Junior - 3.78 - Construction Management

Logan Kilgore - Middle Tennessee - Graduate - 3.78 - MBA

Ryan Boutwell - North Texas - Graduate - 3.71 - Kinesiology

Zach Orr - North Texas - Senior - 3.41 - Kinesiology

*Tanner Leland - Rice - Senior - 3.53 - Mathematical and Economic Analysis

Paul Porras - Rice - Senior - 3.39 - Sports Mgmt. & Religious Studies

*Corey Acosta - Southern Miss - Junior - 3.79 - Biological Studies

*Sam Scofield - Tulane - Junior - 3.74 - Finance

Nate Leonard - UTSA - Junior - 3.99 - Physical Education

Eric Soza - UTSA - Graduate - 4.00 - Education Leadership & Policy Studies

[HoustonEagle]

If your degree is physical education you should be disqualified.

[THOR]

If your degree is physical education you should be disqualified.

Thats stupid...

[FirefightnRick]

Soza with the 4.0....nice.

Rick

[JesseMartin]

All very impressive, but Tanner Leland's is a pretty amazing accomplishment even among this group. Tough major at a tough school while balanced with football and still over a 3.5.

[Christopher Walker]

If your degree is physical education you should be disqualified.

What do you think Kinesiology is?

[UNTLifer]

If your degree is physical education you should be disqualified.

Please explain...from a Kinesiology/Physical Education alumni.

[JesseMartin]

I think a lot of people's perceptions of KHPR are skewed because that tends to be the major for so many athletes. What most don't realize is that these also involve some really tough Biology and Anatomy classes. Plus you still have to do well in your core classes, minor, and electives to keep a good GPA. So, if you make D's in Art History, World Lit, Government, etc. then you won't be pulling a 3.4-3.8 like a lot of these guys.

[Cr1028]

Many players want to become coaches after playing,. What should they major in? Kinesiology/PE, you think? They don't have a football coaching degree so Kin/PE is the best option.

[Cerebus]

If your degree is physical education you should be disqualified.

Well, I'm a little late for the pile on, but...

[SilverEagle]

Soza with the 4.0....nice.

Rick

Yeah, he had a 4.0 performance against us......and the same in the classroom.

[oldguystudent]

How do you get a 3.99 GPA? How is that possible?

And yeah, that guy at Rice in math and econ. Sweet.

[Green Mean]

If your degree is physical education you should be disqualified.

WHAT WHAT WHAT STOP WHAT WHAT !?!?!

[HoustonEagle]

LOL alright I will be your huckleberry. They are pitting kids against each other on an academic basis using GPA. Yet the degrees are vastly different in difficulty. How many kids did not make Academic All-American because of lower GPA's but with degree plans in the hard math and sciences? Are you going to sit there and tell me that you think Tanner Leland is a worse student than Nate Leonard? Also you need a 3.30 GPA or higher to qualify. What about the kid that has a 3.10 in Physics or Mathematics that did not make the cut? The Academic All-American makes us all feel warm and fuzzy but as a competition (for the lack of a better word) makes no sense. So I am sorry to have singled out Phys Ed majors, it is more of my commentary on how the Academic All American is flawed. I don't want to see it gone, just think people should take it for what it is.

This is coming from someone that got a degree in EADP which I found to be extraordinarily easy and a minor in BCIS which I found challenging and tedious. Now I strangely work in finance. Life is a strange journey.

Hope all of you facing the brunt of this winter storm are staying safe and warm. Carry on with your -1's.

Edited December 6, 2013 by HoustonEagle

[UNTexas]

LOL alright I will be your huckleberry. They are pitting kids against each other on an academic basis using GPA. Yet the degrees are vastly different in difficulty. How many kids did not make Academic All-American because of lower GPA's but with degree plans in the hard math and sciences? Are you going to sit there and tell me that you think Tanner Leland is a worse student than Nate Leonard? Also you need a 3.30 GPA or higher to qualify. What about the kid that has a 3.10 in Physics or Mathematics that did not make the cut? The Academic All-American makes us all feel warm and fuzzy but as a competition (for the lack of a better word) makes no sense. So I am sorry to have singled out Phys Ed majors, it is more of my commentary on how the Academic All American is flawed. I don't want to see it gone, just think people should take it for what it is.

This is coming from someone that got a degree in EADP which I found to be extraordinarily easy and a minor in BCIS which I found challenging and tedious. Now I strangely work in finance. Life is a strange journey.

Hope all of you facing the brunt of this winter storm are staying safe and warm. Carry on with your -1's.

I must agree with you. I thought the same thing when I looked at the list. A PE major is in the same sentence as a kid from Rice with a difficult major. It's kinda funny. One spends serious time studying while one takes bowling. But let's be honest, we live in a world where everyone gets a trophy until they get out into the real world. Not to take anything away from a kid getting good grades but some schools and majors are not equal. Edited December 6, 2013 by UNTexas

[Digi368]

Soza with the 4.0....nice.

Rick

He is also one of 16 finalsts for the William Campbell Trophy (aka the Academic Heisman)

[UNT90]

If your degree is physical education you should be disqualified.

Well, them you would have to disqualify marketing majors, other education majors (you understand we have a huge school of education, right?), mysic majors, Radio/television majors, political science majors, and, of course, liberal arts major.

Majored in kinesiology, minored in business administration. Hardest 2 classes I had were Anatomy and Physiology, bought taught by the legendary Dr. Lott. Got a C in both and was happy to get it. Far harder than any business class I had at UNT.

[HoustonEagle]

Well, them you would have to disqualify marketing majors, other education majors (you understand we have a huge school of education, right?), mysic majors, Radio/television majors, political science majors, and, of course, liberal arts major.

Majored in kinesiology, minored in business administration. Hardest 2 classes I had were Anatomy and Physiology, bought taught by the legendary Dr. Lott. Got a C in both and was happy to get it. Far harder than any business class I had at UNT.

Agreed, but for the sake of this list it does not matter. Like UNTexas says everyone gets a trophy if you have the grades. A 4.00 in Basket Weaving gets to stand next to the 4.00 in Mathematics. The 3.00 in Chemistry gets to watch from the stands with a single tear down his cheek.

[UNT90]

Agreed, but for the sake of this list it does not matter. Like UNTexas says everyone gets a trophy if you have the grades. A 4.00 in Basket Weaving gets to stand next to the 4.00 in Mathematics. The 3.00 in Chemistry gets to watch from the stands with a single tear down his cheek.

Watch it. You are coming dangerously close to saying only success in this or that degree field matters.

As you know, many of us have successful careers in areas completely unrelated to our degrees.

[HoustonEagle]

Watch it. You are coming dangerously close to saying only success in this or that degree field matters.

As you know, many of us have successful careers in areas completely unrelated to our degrees.

What does that have to do with the price of Tea in China? It's a list of accomplishments in the classroom, not the real world.

[UNTexas]

Watch it. You are coming dangerously close to saying only success in this or that degree field matters.

As you know, many of us have successful careers in areas completely unrelated to our degrees.

I don't think he said that at all. In fact he said his career has nothing to do with his major. He commented on the inequality of the aforementioned list. He and I both said everyone gets a trophy these days until the real world.

[DT 90]

There are threads that parents just need to stay away from and I am pretty sure this is one of those.

[SSP]

Congratulations to Zach and Ryan!!! Well done! Being a college athlete is a full time job. No matter what your major is, carrying this high of a GPA and playing football...... not easy.

[UNT90]

What does that have to do with the price of Tea in China? It's a list of accomplishments in the classroom, not the real world.

So if it was business management degree, would you say the sane thing?

[JesseMartin]

Once again...you could have a 4.0 in your major and not even crack a 3.0 if you weren't focused on your other classes. It doesn't matter what the major is, having great grades in all areas of your curriculum requires a lot of focus. Plus, some people are naturally better at some things but still study hard to do well in areas that aren't second nature. I breezed through my science classes, but the hardest courses for me were ConLaw (with the highest withdrawal/drop rate on campus) and 20th Century Art History (I got one of 3 A's out of about 120 students).

Regardless, since your major only comprises about 30-40 hours out of 120-130 hours of credits, you can see how someone in an "easier" program could still bring their GPA down with non-major courses, while someone in a "harder" program could get a boost from the same non-major curriculum, if every class was the same. Obviously, people choose different electives, minors, humanities, etc., but it still holds true that doing poorly in your non-major courses makes it impossible to keep a high GPA, whereas doing well in those courses can offset a few extremely difficult ones in your major. Someone with a 2.5 in their "difficult" major could still exceed a 3.5 if they did well in their non-major courses, whereas someone with a 4.0 in an "easy" major could dip well below a 3.0 if they fared poorly in their other classes.

So for anyone who balances their major and non-major courses well enough to earn near, or over, a 3.5, well done. And for those who can also balance a Division I sport with the same academic results, extremely well done!