Academic Excellence

Sept. 11, 2000

by Tim Bourret Sports Information Director Missouri Game Program – September 9, 2000

Clemson’s Young, Carson, Named Academic All-Americans Clemson starting center Kyle Young and starting inside linebacker Chad Carson were both named GTE Academic All-Americans by the College Sports Information Directors of America in 1999. The organization selects the official academic All-America teams in all sports in all divisions. Young, a native of Clemson, SC, was a first-team selection, while Carson, of Newnan, GA, was a second-team choice.

Young has a 3.97 career GPA in secondary education, while Carson has a 3.91 GPA in biological sciences. Both players are juniors in the classroom and sophomores on the football field.

This was the first year in history that Clemson had two Academic All-America selections in the same year. Clemson was one of just three Division I schools to have two players honored in 1999.

Nebraska had three and Penn State also had two on the first two teams. Clemson is the only team in the nation with two returning academic All-Americans in the year 2000.

“Kyle Young and Chad Carson are certainly to be commended,” said Clemson Head Coach Tommy Bowden. “Both have outstanding balance in their lives. To be among the leaders of our team on the field and accomplish what they have done in the classroom sets an outstanding example for our players, current and future.”

Young is the first Clemson first-team selection by the GTE CoSIDA team since 1978 when Steve Fuller was chosen. Clemson has had first-team selections by the American Football Coaches Association since 1978. Young started every game at center this year and led the team in knockdown blocks, he was second in plays.

An first-team All-ACC selection by Football News, Young was a major reason Clemson averaged over 400 yards per game in total offense for just the third time in history. His pass blocking was a key reason Clemson set school records for passing yardage, completions and completion percentage.

Carson finished the season with 144 tackles, the 10th highest total in Clemson history. That figured ranked second on the Clemson team and third in the ACC. He had his best game against Mississippi State in the Peach Bowl when he had 16 tackles, including two for loss. He had nine games of at least 10 tackles.

Clemson Football Graduation Rate Cited by AFCA The Clemson football program was cited by the American Football Coaches Association this past summer for a graduation rate over 70 percent, according to a release by the association. It is the second straight year Clemson has been on the academic excellence list.

For the class entering in the fall of 1994, Clemson had a 76.46 percent graduation rate. The national average was 57 percent. Clemson was one of 27 Division I schools named in the list.

“We congratulate our student-athletes first,” said Athletic Director Bobby Robinson. “We also feel this is a testimony to the efforts of our coaches and Bill D’Andrea’s staff at the Department of Student-Athlete Enrichment Programs.

“We have seen consistent improvement in the academic performance of our football program and all of our athletic teams in recent years since we built Vickery Hall in 1991. We are pleased with these results and our inclusion on this prestigious list.”

Clemson is one of four ACC schools to make the list of schools honored for their graduation rates. The other ACC schools with a graduation rate of at least 70 percent were Duke, Virginia, and Wake Forest. Syracuse was named the Academic Achievement Award champion, having had 100 percent of its players graduate.

The complete list of schools who had a graduation rate of 70 percent or better are: Ball State, Baylor, Boston College, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Clemson, Duke, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Marshall, Miami (FL), Mississippi State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Purdue, Rice, South Carolina, Syracuse, Southern California, Southern Methodist, Tulane, Tulsa, Virginia, Wake Forest and Wisconsin.

Clemson Football Team Sets Record in Spring of 2000 The Clemson football team was one of three Clemson teams to post all-time single semester GPAs in the spring of 2000. The team had a 2.49 team GPA for the spring, far ahead of the previous high of 2.38. Tommy Bowden has been the head coach at Clemson for three semesters and his team has broken the previous semester GPA record twice.

An all-time record 39 Clemson football players were on the academic honor roll, including seven members of the freshman signee class of 1999. For the academic year, 21 Clemson gridders were named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll, most in history.

One of the reasons for the success was the academic performance of the freshman class. The freshman class for the 1999-2000 academic year had a 2.68 GPA, far ahead of the 2.49 average for all male freshmen on the Clemson campus last year.

For the third straight semester the overall GPA for the student-athletes was at an all-time high, this year reaching 2.76. That is just .02 below the average for the overall student body, the closest differential on record.

A record six Clemson athletic teams posted a team GPA of over 3.0 in the spring semester of 2000 according to statistics released by the school’s athletic council in June, 2000. Ninety-two student-athletes were named to the Dean’s List, 20 more than any other semester in Clemson history. A total of 217 student-athletes were on the academic honor roll, second highest figure in history. Almost 46 percent of Clemson’s student-athletes are on the academic honor roll. A total of 24 student-athletes had a perfect 4.0, second highest semester figure in Clemson history.

The list of President’s List student-athletes includes first-team Academic All-American Kyle Young, the starting center on the Tiger football team, and second-team Academic All-American Chad Carson, the second leading tackler on the 1999 Tigers.