UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; November 7, 2013 - Penn State student-athletes Ben Kline (Seven Valleys) and John Urschel (Williamsville, N.Y.) have been selected to the Capital One Academic All-District® Football Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). They will be eligible for consideration for the Academic All-America® Team.
A senior, Urschel was a 2012 first-team Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American® and earns Academic All-District® accolades for the third consecutive year. Kline, a redshirt sophomore, earns his second consecutive Academic All-District® selection.
Urschel will have an opportunity to become the 11th Nittany Lion to earn first team Academic All-America® honors twice. He is among the eight Nittany Lions who have already earned their degrees. A starter in all 20 games the past two seasons for Coach Bill O'Brien's Nittany Lions, Urschel graduated with a 4.0 grade-point average in math, earned his master's degree in math in one year, and is working on a second master's, in math education.
A 2012 first-team All-Big Ten guard, Urschel recently was named a prestigious National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete, earning $18,000 for post-graduate studies. In addition to being among the finalists for the NFF's William V. Campbell Trophy, Urschel also is among 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award.
A linebacker, Kline owns a 3.90 GPA as a finance major in the Smeal College of Business. He made his first career start in last week's win over Illinois and recorded a career-best eight tackles. Kline has been slowed by a shoulder injury this season, but has 14 tackles, with 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack in his five games.
Another of Penn State's 2012 Academic All-District® selections, defensive end Brad Bars, has not played this season due to an achilles tendon injury and was not eligible to be nominated for Academic All-America® consideration this year. A junior, he has a 3.78 GPA in finance.
Penn State has led, or been tied for first, in first-team Academic All-America® selections among FBS institutions in four of the past five years. The Nittany Lions' 17 Academic All-Americans® since 2006 (15 first-team) leads the nation. The Penn State football team has had a least one first-team Academic All-American® in nine of the past 11 years (17 overall selections).
Penn State has had 51 Academic All-Americans® all-time to rank No. 3 in the nation among Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs.
The Capital One Academic All-District® Football Team was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.30 on a scale of 4.00 and have achieved sophomore academic eligibility.
In October, NCAA data revealed that the Penn State Football student-athletes earned an 85 percent Graduation Success Rate, second among Big Ten Conference institutions and in the top 10 percent among the nation's 124 FBS institutions.
Penn State (5-3. 2-2) visits Minnesota (7-2, 3-2) on Saturday, with the kick at 11 a.m. CT/12 p.m. on ESPN2. The game also will air on the Penn State Sports Network (10:30 a.m. ET airtime) and www.GoPSUsports.com.
Tickets are available for the Nittany Lions' last two home games against Purdue (Nov. 16 at 12 p.m.; Military Appreciation Day) and Nebraska (Nov. 23, TBA; Senior Day). For information on single game tickets, as well as club seating in Beaver Stadium, fans can visit www.GoPSUsports.com/tickets or call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Pre-paid single game parking passes for the general parking lots ($10) are also available at www.GoPSUsports.com/tickets.
Penn State Athletics is on Twitter (http://www.gopsusports.com/ot/twitter.html) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pennstatenittanylions).