How Student-Athletes are Making Waves

It's BCS bowl time. Here's how some football student-athletes are making waves in the classroom

by Jeff Greer

When college football's bowl season rolls around, it's hard to imagine anyone thinking about exams and term papers. So many football fans are glued to the big-time Bowl Championship Series games and their mouth-watering matchups that the whole these-guys-are-still-in-college thing slips through the mental cracks of society. But for many of the student-athletes on the 68 teams playing in bowl games this year, the middle of December is a time for studying, writing papers, taking exams, and more studying. And despite what gets covered in the media, there are actually scores of big-time college football players who are making big splashes in the classrooms at their universities.

University of Florida's Tim Tebow gets plenty of ink when it comes to the gridiron, but he's also excelled in the kind of work you never hear about on TV. For all of Tebow's success on the field--including a Heisman trophy and two national championships--it's the off-the-field, in-the-classroom results that stand out and have special meaning for him. Tebow's 3.66 grade-point average landed him this year's ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American of the Year award for the second consecutive year, and it helped him become one of five returnees named to the Academic All-America first team in November.

For Tebow and other players on the Academic All-America team, schoolwork is just like football. And treating it as such has allowed players on some of the best teams in America--Texas and Alabama, the two teams in the national championship, each have first-team Academic All-Americans--excel both on and off the field.

"I'm not going to be the brightest kid in my class," says Tebow, who is on the brink of graduation after three years at Florida. "But for me, school has always been about sticking with it and working hard. It's about how driven you are, how competitive you are in the classroom. If you want to be successful in whatever you do, you have to be successful in the classroom first."

The hard work paid off and has him one class away from finishing a bachelor's degree in family, youth, and communication studies at one of the best universities in the nation. Tebow says he'd like to use his degree--and the out-of-classroom experience that came with earning it--to work with nonprofit organizations as soon as he graduates from school. Things like starting orphanages and shelters for children are exactly the kind of work Tebow would like to do. Being in the National Football League next year will give him exposure and influence that can advance that work.

For successful student-athletes like Tebow, time management and dedication are key. Susan Gutkind, the assistant athletics director of student services at Fresno State University, says that many student-athletes apply the same philosophies to school that they use in athletics. That means many student-athletes manage time well, do plenty of preparation, and do the little things that keep them in the loop, especially when they're away from school for athletics events such as bowl games.

"I think [student-athletes] tap into the same characteristics that made them successful athletes," Gutkind says. "Most kids who are recruited to play Division I athletics already have learned how to adjust throughout the course of the season."

A lot of credit goes to the foundation student-athletes have built over the years. Tebow talks about his parents as his biggest supporters for his work in the classroom. University of Alabama tight end Colin Peek, who has a 3.79 GPA in finance and is a first-team Academic All-American, says the same thing. In his house, he says, there's school, and then there's everything else.

Success in academics starts "at the family level," Peek says. "You have to be accountable. . . . My dad always says that to be a smart and well-respected individual is the highest honor, and I believe that. . . . Football is such a pleasure to play, but it could be a momentary thing for you. At any second, your career could be over. That's why you put in the hard work in the classroom."

And that's why players have to make room for academics, even in bowl season. After all, the "student" in student-athlete comes first.

First Team Academic All-Americans Playing in Bowl Games

Which bowlbound teams had players make the 24-member Academic All-America first team? Here's a quick peek:

Tim Tebow (Florida); Zeke Markshausen (Northwestern); Blair White (Michigan State); Colin Peek (Alabama); Andrew Jackson (Fresno State); Andrew Pitz (Penn State); Adam Ulatoski (Texas); Stefen Wisniewski (Penn State); Sam Acho (Texas); Josh Hull (Penn State); and Scott Johnson (BYU).

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