May 11, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State Nittany Lion wrestler Matt Brown (West Valley City, Utah) has added two more prestigious honors to his already lengthy list of accolades. The Utah-native has been awarded an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship as well as a Big Ten Post-Graduate Scholarship.
The NCAA award carries a $7,500 scholarship for post-graduate study at the university or professional school of the student-athlete's choice. As for the Big Ten honor, one male and one female student-athlete from each of the 14 Big Ten institutions who plan to continue their education at a graduate degree program are awarded a $7,500 scholarship, primarily based on academic achievements.
Brown, the 2015 NCAA Champion at 174 pounds and Penn State's 24th three-time All-American, posted a 29-3 record this past season. He capped off his career with a 5-0 run through the NCAA Championships to claim his first individual crown. Brown leaves Penn State with a 118-16 career record, 12th all-time in wins and 11th all-time in pins with 30. He was also recently named Penn State's McCoy Award winner. Brown is a multiple NWCA National First Team All-Academic selection, was a 2013 First Team CoSIDA Academic All-American and the 2013 Elite 89 Award Winner. He was a three-time First Team Academic All-Big Ten honoree as well.
Brown became the 46th Penn State student-athlete to receive the NCAA post-graduate award and the first since wrestler Quentin Wright and men's gymnast Scott Rosenthal won in 2013. The honor is the latest in another banner year for Penn State Athletics. Penn State student-athletes, who have captured 18 Big Ten Championships and five NCAA titles since September 2012, consistently have been among the most successful in the nation in earning their degrees. Among some of the recent academic accomplishments are:
- Over 100 Penn State student-athletes, including Brown, were scheduled to graduate this past weekend.
- Penn State's 70 winter Academic All-Big Ten selections (including Brown) brought Penn State's 2014-15 total to 142 academic all-conference honorees (from 15 sports) and comes on the heels of the record-breaking fall semester academic performance.
- Penn State student-athletes shattered school records during the 2014 fall semester, including a record 500 earning a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. Among the 500 Nittany Lion student-athletes earning at least a 3.0 GPA, a school record 241 garnered Dean's List honors during the 2014 fall semester by posting a GPA of 3.50 or higher. The combined average GPA was 3.08 among Penn State's 31 varsity sports during the fall semester.
- Seventy-two Penn State student-athletes earned Fall Academic All-Big Ten honors. During the 2013-14 academic year, Penn State had 285 academic all-conference honorees, its second-highest total all-time;
- Last October, the NCAA's annual study of institutions across the nation revealed Penn State student-athletes at the University Park campus earned a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 89 percent compared to the 82 percent average for all Division I institutions. The 89 percent figure was second-highest, to Northwestern, among Big Ten Conference institutions.
- Penn State's 186 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans all-time ranks No. 3 among Division I institutions.