South Florida’s football team had 21 student-athletes named to the 2012 Big East All-Academic Team. That number was the second lowest in the conference, ahead of only the University of Connecticut.
To qualify for that honor, an athlete must have a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.0 over a two-semester span.
Of the players who made the All-Academic team, 11 of the 21 selected were walk-ons, meaning they are non-scholarship players. The players who are the more heavily recruited are the ones having the hardest time in the classroom.
“Our expectations are based on proven academic success in high school,” said Ralph Wilcox, provost and executive vice president for the University of South Florida System. “Not just grade-point averages, but the rigor of the curriculum they took in high school and whether they were successful with it. We look at advanced placement classes, International Baccalaureate classes, and honors classes. We look at standardized test scores, like the ACT and the SAT.”
The “jock” persona is one that is well known, and the characteristics that seem to be naturally associated with it are hardly surprising. However, college athletic programs around the country spend an immense amount of time and money trying to evade this negative connotation for players in their program.
As each year passes, the University of South Florida continues to raise its admission requirements, and potential recruits in all sports are not exempt from meeting these standards.
Former USF football head coach Jim Leavitt lost several high-profile recruits in his final season due to the increasing standards.
There is a lot of importance for football players to succeed academically. Only around 7 percent of eligible NCAA Division I players get drafted into the National Football League, and the number that actually makes a professional team’s roster and maintains a career is much smaller.
“We made some shifts in the university to, if you will, really regain our rightful oversight of academic progress of student-athletes at the University of South Florida,” Wilcox said. “[Graduation rates] are way above the national average, but it’s still not good enough for us.”
The academic scores of USF student-athletes are improving. The number of student-athletes on the Big East All-Academic Team has increased over the past several seasons. Eight players were named in 2008, followed by 13 in 2009, 16 in 2010, and 18 in 2011.
Samantha Ouimette is the sports editor of The Crow’s Nest. She can be reached at sports@crowsneststpete.com.
Photo contributed by USF Athletics.
