As classes get underway for the fall semester, The University of Alabama Athletics Department is coming off another record-setting year in the classroom, building on the Crimson Tide’s well-established tradition of academic excellence.
The College Sports Information Directors of America administers 12 Academic All-America teams, including men’s and women’s soccer, football, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s track and field/cross country as well as the men’s and women’s at-large teams, which span 17 sports. Each of those teams names an Academic All-American of the year. In 2015-16, Alabama became the first school in the award’s history to have three student-athletes earn Academic All-American of the Year honors in the same academic year. And for the third year in a row, Alabama tallied double-digit Academic All-American honors in 2015-16, totaling 10 accolades.
UA also was prolific when it came to the SEC Academic Honor Roll, earning the accolade 350 times during the 2015-16 academic year. The Crimson Tide had 82, 59 and 126 student-athletes named to the SEC Fall, Winter and Spring Academic Honor Rolls and 83 named to the First-Year Academic Honor Roll.
On a departmentwide basis, UA’s more than 500 student-athletes averaged over a 3.16 grade point average, including 47 who maintain a career GPA of 4.0. Six UA teams posted cumulative GPAs above 3.5 for the year, marking the sixth year in a row that at least five teams have met that standard, while 12 of 17 programs earned GPAs over 3.0 for the academic year.
Also, more than 125 student-athletes earned their degrees during the 2015-16 academic year, including the winter, spring and summer graduations. The latest numbers reveal that UA graduates 72 percent of its student-athletes while the general student population graduates at a rate of 66 percent.
UA student-athletes earning their degrees while still competing has become such a common occurrence, that the department developed a graduation insignia for them to wear on their uniform during competition.
More information about these awards can be found on RollTide.com or follow AlabamaAthletics on Facebook and UA_Athletics on Twitter. Photos courtesy of Crimson Tide Photos/UA Athletics.
