May 18, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. - Academic success has been a mainstay for the UCF football program under head coach George O'Leary and the recently-concluded spring 2009 semester was no exception.
UCF's team GPA of 2.776 for the semester was its highest spring semester GPA of the O'Leary era, edging out the 2.758 set in the spring of 2008. Similarly, under the mindful eye of Kristy Belden and her academic services staff, UCF football's current cumulative GPA of 2.817 is the highest it has ever been following the spring semester under O'Leary.
Not only did ten UCF players receive bachelor's degrees this past semester but, quite impressively, six of them were earned by student-athletes who are still playing for UCF. Michael Greco (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), T.J. Harnden (Tallahassee, Fla.), Cory Hogue (Naples, Fla.), Jordan Richards (Cary, N.C.), Rocky Ross (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Alex Thompson (Gainesville, Fla.) have all graduated from the University and will be working on either master's degrees or second bachelor's degrees while they compete for UCF this upcoming season.
Helping UCF along to this level were the 49 student-athletes who earned a spot on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for the spring semester with a GPA of 3.0 or better.
The great grades come on the heels of the recent Academic progress Rate (APR) announcement by the NCAA which saw the football team earn a mark of 960. That score tied LSU for 23rd in the nation. It also ranked ninth nationally amongst non-military public universities.
Not all of the credit for this tremendous success is due to those who sit in the classrooms and work behind the scenes for UCF Athletics. None of this could have ever been possible without the generosity of UCF's many supporters through their donations to the Golden Knights Club. Every year the GKC collects valuable funds which help advance the academic success of UCF's student-athletes. For more information on the GKC and how you can help continue this remarkable academic success, please call (407) 823-2086, email goldenknightsclub@athletics.ucf.edu, or check out the GKC section at UCFAthletics.com.
Another way to enjoy the success of the Knights is through purchasing football season tickets which are on sale now. For more information, either call the UCF Ticket Office at (407) 823-1000 or check out the tickets page at UCFAthletics.com.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.