Penn State football was honored for its success in the classroom yet again, receiving an honorable mention in the American Football Coaches Association’s annual Academic Achievement Award Survey.

The Nittany Lions were honored for the 23rd time by the AFCA after posting a Graduation Success Rate of 87 percent, good for second in the Big Ten behind Northwestern and No. 5 among all public FBS programs, according to the NCAA.

Penn State’s GSR was 16 points higher than the national average of 71 percent. Penn State was honored by the AFCA for having a GSR of 75 percent or better for student athletes that were freshmen during the 2007-2008 academic year under then-head coach, Joe Paterno.

Penn State has now received recognition from the AFCA 23 times, tied for No. 3 all-time with Rice and behind only Notre Dame and Virginia Tech at 24 apiece. The Nittany Lions’ all-time total of 63 Academic All-America football honorees ranks second nationally, while their 18 Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans over the past nine years (16 first-team selections) leads the nation.

This comes on the heels of another strong year for Penn State football in the classroom. 51 players received a 3.0 GPA or better in the fall semester and set a program record with 25 members on the Dean’s List. Prior to Penn State’s thrilling win over Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl, a Big Ten Conference-high 16 members of the football team had earned their degrees to rank in the top 10 percent among all FBS institutions.

Hopefully the success continues in the classroom for the Nittany Lions to keep the positive trend going.

Photo: OS Admin