Nov. 26, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
The record-setting week for the Penn State Football team continues with another outstanding accomplishment.
Having seen a school record 10 Nittany Lions earn first team All-Big Ten honors on Monday, Penn State has landed a program record five players on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® team, with four earning first team honors.
Senior tackle Gerald Cadogan (Portsmouth, Ohio), junior linebacker Josh Hull (Millheim), junior kick snapper Andrew Pitz (Bettendorf, Iowa) and senior safety Mark Rubin (Amherst, N.Y.) earned first team accolades. Sophomore guard Stefen Wisniewski (Bridgeville) was a second team choice. Cadogan is a two-time first team honoree.
Penn State's four first team selections and five overall selections led the nation. Brigham Young, Dayton and North Dakota State were the only other schools with more than two honorees. Penn State is the first school to have five Academic All-America® football players since Nebraska in 1997.
The Nittany Lions were the only Big Ten Conference team with more than one Academic All-American®.
Mark Rubin |
The five Academic All-America® selections give Penn State 43 all-time, with 41 under Coach Joe Paterno. Twenty-seven Nittany Lions have earned first team Academic All-America® honors a total of 31 times under Paterno. The Nittany Lions' total of 43 Academic All-America® football players ranks third among all Division I-A institutions.
Penn State's previous high for Academic All-America® football selections was in 1982, when four members of the Nittany Lions' National Championship team were honored. Todd Blackledge, Harry Hamilton and Scott Radecic were first team selections and Mark Robinson was named to the second team.
Cadogan also earned First Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® honors in 2007. He becomes the sixth Nittany Lion to earn first team Academic All-America® honors twice, with linebacker Paul Posluszny the last to do so, in 2005 and '06. A first team All-Big Ten honoree, Cadogan owns a 3.68 grade point average in rehabilitation services and psychology and is on schedule to graduate in December.
Pitz is the long snapper on all placements and has handled the punt snapping duties during the last several games. He owns the squad's highest grade point average with 3.94 in journalism. Rubin graduated in August with a 3.80 GPA and degrees in finance and advertising and public relations. He began MBA work this semester. Hull has a 3.50 GPA in environmental systems engineering. A second team All-Big Ten selection, Wisniewski is enrolled in the Schreyer Honors College and has a 3.89 grade point average in secondary education.
A school record seven Nittany Lions were selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District® Punter Jeremy Boone (Mechanicsburg) and quarterback Pat Devlin (Downingtown) joined their five teammates as Academic All-District® honorees.
The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Teams are selected by the 1,800 members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.30 on a scale of 4.00.
The Penn State football team has had a least one Academic All-American® in each of the past seven seasons, with Posluszny being selected the 2006 Academic All-American® of the Year for the University Division.
The Nittany Lions (11-1) won the Big Ten Championship, are ranked No. 8 in this week's Bowl Championship Series standings and will play in the Rose Bowl (Jan. 1, 2009) or BCS National Championship (Jan. 8). Penn State is No. 6 in the Associated Press, USA Today Coaches and Harris Interactive polls. The BCS pairings will be announced Sunday, Dec. 7.
Penn State will be playing in its 35th bowl game under Paterno, who is the all-time leader in bowl appearances and wins (23-10-1 record).
For the complete ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Football teams, go to www.GoPSUsports.com.