Fresno State Athletics
Jackson, Malone Named Academic All-Americans
11/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 24, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. - When Andrew Jackson was notified he'd been selected as an Academic All-American, he was right where you'd expect to find him: Fresno State's Ricchiuti Academic Center.
Jackson, a junior guard on the Bulldog football team, was named to ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-America® Football Team First Team, the first Fresno State player ever to receive that distinction and the first Bulldog student-athlete since 2002 so honored. Jackson is a Business Administration Management major with a 3.92 Grade Point Average.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at their current institution and be nominated by the school's sports information director.
Since the program's inception in 1952, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.
ESPN The Magazine - winner of the 2006 and 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence - is a provocative and innovative sports publication. Full of insight, analysis, impact and wit, the oversized biweekly with a circulation of 1.9 million looks ahead to give fans a unique perspective on the world of sports.
The team is comprised of "University Division" members, all schools competing at the FBS and FCS levels of Division I.
Jackson is the top offensive lineman on one of the nation's highest producing offensive teams, which has NCAA rushing leader Ryan Mathews and ranks in the Top 25 nationally in scoring, rushing and total offense. He was one of five juniors named to the team. Prior to suffering an injury against Idaho, he had started 33 consecutive games in his career.
"It humbles me to be a recipient of such a prestigious award," said Jackson. "But it is really a tribute to all those who have taken an active interest in my life and encouraged me to excel in the classroom as well as on the field. A strong work ethic was instilled in me at a young age by my father, mother, brothers, and grandparents. I thank them for this gift and all those who have provide me with the tools to succeed. This includes current and past teachers, coaches, teammates, family, and friends who have provided indescribable motivation. I am proud to be a student-athlete at Fresno State because Fresno State football does not take a backseat to any institutional, academically or athletically. My hat is off to Coach Hill for taking this program to the main stage for football and academics."
Senior punter Robert Malone was selected second-team Academic All-America. Malone is a Kinesiology major with a 3.51 GPA. Malone is averaging 45.4 yards per punt this season, which would rank second in the NCAA statistics if he had enough punt attempts to quality. Fresno State's net punt unit has been ranked in the Top 5 in the NCAA for most of this season.
"I was raised with my parents always stressing academic achievement," said Malone. "My mom was so excited after she met Coach (John) Baxter on my recruiting trip and learned about the Academic Gameplan program and she was excited that I was going to be attending a school where academics come first. That's the way Coach Hill runs things. I'm glad I was able to take advantage of the foundation that we have here at Fresno State. It's really an honor."
Only one other Bulldog football player, Payton Williams in 1999, has been selected as an Academic All-American. Williams was a second-team selection in his senior season.
"This is a great honor for two outstanding young men," said Hill. "To see guys rewarded for their hard work and especially their combined academic and athletic excellence is very rewarding as a coach. I hope our community understands that it's not easy to get selected to the Academic All-America team. This is truly an elite and prestigious honor."
Jackson and Malone were among five Bulldogs named to the Academic All-District 8 team, which put them on the Academic All-America ballot. Fresno State led all schools with five all-district players, one more than Penn State. Also on the all-district team were senior safety Moses Harris, sophomore kicker Kevin Goessling and junior tight end Vince Pascoe.
Jackson is the first WAC football player honored as a first-team Academic All-American since 2002.
Harris has been selected one of the nation's top student-athletes and will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship from The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) as a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy. He is one of 16 finalists from among all NCAA divisions and the NAIA for that award, which will be presented Dec. 8 in New York City.
These three outstanding individual awards come on the heels of tremendous academic success by the Bulldog football program as a whole. With a current NCAA Academic Progress Score of 948, nearly 20 percentage points higher than the national average for college football programs, head coach Pat Hill's program continues to achieve at a high level in the classroom. The Bulldogs NCAA APR score ranks in the Top 10 of programs in the West, in the Top Five for public schools, and second among California public schools.
In addition to setting a high-standard for team APR scores, the Bulldog program continues to produce Academic All-WAC performers at a record clip.
The Bulldog football team had 14 student-athletes named to the Academic All-WAC team in 2008. In the fall of 2007, the Bulldogs had a record 16 football players selected. Under Hill the Bulldogs have produced a league-best 123 Academic All-WAC players, 47 more than the second closest school in the league while averaging 10.3 Academic All-WAC players per season. Prior to his arrival, Fresno State's football program had produced a total of nine Academic All-WAC players. Fresno State has more Academic All-WAC players in 12 seasons under Hill than WAC charter members Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming had for their entire conference membership years.
What's more, the Bulldogs became the only school in WAC history to have more than 100 Academic All-WAC selections in a single decade. The 2009 Academic All-WAC teams will be announced after the football season.
On a national scale, Fresno State's two Academic All-Americans in 2009 is second only Penn State, with three student-athletes honored. The Bulldogs were the only school from the Western Athletic Conference to have any athletes honored as Academic All-Americans this season and had nearly as many as all of the Pac-10 schools combined. As a league, the Pac-10 Conference had a total of three players selected to the combined first and second teams.
Fresno State had the most Academic All-Americans out of the entire state of California. The only other school in the state to have an honoree was Stanford, which had one.
"We Are Your Team" The Bulldogs are finishing off their 2009 season on Saturday, December 5, when they hit the road to take on the Fighting Illini of Illinois. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network at 9:30am (PST) and on local radio KMJ-580 AM. Stay updated with all the latest Bulldog news on GoBulldogs.com.
