Nov. 23, 2010

The Big Ten tied for the lead among all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conferences with five student-athletes named to the ESPN Academic All-America first or second teams in football as announced today by CoSIDA. The Big Ten has now led all FBS conferences in Academic All-Americans for six straight seasons, with 48 football honorees over that time span. The Big Ten also tied for the lead among all conferences with four first-team selections.
   
The Big Ten’s total of five Academic All-Americans was tied with the Big 12 for the lead among all FBS conferences and ranked second only to the nine selections from the Missouri Valley Conference of the Football Championship Subdivison. The Big Ten and Missouri Valley both produced a conference-best four first-team honorees, followed by three first-team selections from the Big 12. Penn State led the country with three first-team Academic All-Americans, one of only four schools with more than one first-team honoree.

The Academic All-America first-team honorees from the Big Ten include the Penn State trio of Chris Colasanti, Pete Massaro and Stefen Wisniewski and Purdue’s Kyle Adams, while fellow Boilermaker Joe Holland was named to the second team. Wisniewski was one of four student-athletes to earn first-team accolades for the second straight season.

To be eligible for the award, a player must be in at least his second year of athletic eligibility, be a first-team or key performer and carry a cumulative 3.30 grade point average (GPA).

Big Ten Football

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