Aug. 11, 2005
ORLANDO - The UCF football team continued its success in the classroom with a team grade point average of 3.012 over the summer. The Golden Knights, who do not have a single player on academic probation, improved their overall cumulative team GPA to 2.810.
Eleven players earned a perfect 4.0 GPA over the summer while 66 percent of the team earned Athletic Director's Honor Roll status (3.0 GPA or higher).
The team has made a dramatic turnaround academically since the arrival of head coach George O'Leary. The second-year head coach of the Golden Knights has stressed the importance of doing well in the classroom to his players and the results have shown.
"I am extremely proud of the effort the football team gave in the classroom," stated UCF football academic advisor Kristy Belden. "Not only did they excel this summer in the strength and conditioning program, but they also worked extremely hard in the classroom."
Three former Golden Knights earned their degrees over the summer as well, including Trenton Jordan, Al Peterson and Josh Stephens. Two current members of the team, Paul Carrington and Darcy Johnson, graduated in May and are enrolled in graduate school at UCF.
The incoming freshmen class enrolled for the summer B term and collected a GPA of 3.145. "I am also very impressed by the freshmen who came in and started college early," continued Belden. "The fact that they earned an average GPA of 3.145 is a sign of more great things to come. I couldn't be more pleased with the team's academic performance this summer."
Over half of the team's scholarship players (58 %) earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher during the summer session.