Denim Millward
Sports Editor
In addition to their celebrated accomplishments on the field in the 2014 football season, linebacker Austin Graves and defensive back Cody Sorensen continue to be lauded for their academic achievement as well.
Graves and Sorensen were named to the Football Championship Subdivision Athletic Directors Association Academic All-Star Team, ISU Sports Information announced January 9.
The honor given to Graves and Sorensen, which was presented to 50 FCS student-athletes, was the first to be given to an Idaho State Bengal.
These accolades come after Sorensen and Graves were also named to the CoSida Academic All-District team and Graves earned second-team Capital One Academic All-American honors.
“The FCS ADA is proud to recognize its Academic All-Star team for the seventeenth-straight season,” FCS ADA president and director of athletics at Southern Utah University Ken Beazer said. “This year, the team was selected from the highest number of nominees since 2002. It is extremely admirable what our football student-athletes are able to accomplish in the classroom and on the field.”
In addition to Sorensen and Graves, six other football players from the Big Sky Conference were named to the team.
To be eligible for the award, a player must be from an FCS football program, must have been a starter or key player with legitimate athletics credentials and must maintain a minimum 3.20 GPA on a 4.00 scale.
Graves and Sorensen were both key members of a revamped Idaho State defense that helped lead the Bengals to an 8-4 record, their first winning record in over a decade. Graves maintained a 3.95 GPA while Sorensen earned a 3.83.
A special committee comprised of FCS athletics directors made the final determinations of selecting the team and scholarship finalists.
Chaired by Beazer, the committee also included the following members: Thorr Bjorn, University of Rhode Island; Brian Hutchinson, Morehead State; Mark Wilson, Tennessee Tech and Idaho State athletics director Jeff Tingey.
