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Patriot League Football Academic Honors Announced
Nov. 23, 2010
Patriot League Football Academic Awards Center Valley, Pa. - Bucknell senior Travis Nissley was selected as the 2010 Patriot League Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned one of 14 spots on the sport's inaugural Academic All-Patriot League Team, it was announced on Tuesday. The awards are voted on by the Patriot League's football sports information directors. The Academic All-Patriot League Team has been added for all sports beginning in the 2010-11 season to honor additional student-athletes who excel both on and off the field. The Football Academic All-Patriot League Team has 14 student-athletes to equal one-half the size of the sport's All-Patriot League first team. Joining Nissley as an Academic All-Patriot League selection are defensive teammates Tim Bolte, Jason Vollmar and John von Paris, Colgate's Greg Sullivan, Georgetown's Phillip Oladeji, Holy Cross' Bill Edger and Mike McCabe, Lafayette's Brandon Ellis, Doug Gerowski, Nick Nardone and Ryan O'Neil and Lehigh's Tom Randazza and Tanner Rivas. Nissley receives the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for the second straight season, becoming just the fourth football student-athlete in League history and first since 1997 to claim consecutive honors. He is the third Bucknell student-athlete to repeat as the Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the Bison program has fielded the Scholar-Athlete recipient a League-high eight times. The Patriot League Scholar-Athlete award builds on an outstanding resume of national athletic and academic honors for Nissley. He was named as a second-team ESPN Academic All-American on Monday, becoming the first Patriot Leaguer to earn that distinction since 2006. Earlier this fall he was named a National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete and one of 16 finalists nationwide for the Campbell Trophy. As part of that recognition, Nissley earned an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and will be attending the National Football Foundation Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 7 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Nissley owns a 3.96 cumulative grade-point average while majoring in mechanical engineering. He posted three perfect 4.0 GPAs in his first six semesters and has been a regular member of Bucknell's Dean's List and the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll during his time in Orange and Blue. He was also elected to Tau Beta Pi, a National Engineering Honor Society, was a recipient of the Charles F. White Memorial Prize for scholar-athletes and is a member of the Bucknell Classics Club. Additionally, Nissley has volunteered with Toys for Tots and the National Marrow Donor Program. On the football field, Nissley finished the 2010 campaign with a team-high 63 tackles, and his 256 career stops were most among current Bison. Nissley finished his career with two double-figure tackle outings in his last four games, including a team-high 10 last Saturday at Holy Cross. A three-year starter who played in all 44 games over the last four years, Nissley recorded a career-high 93 tackles as a junior to rank sixth in the Patriot League. Six of the 14 selections to the Academic All-Patriot League Team were also honored with All-League selections for their play on the field. Sullivan, McCabe and Ellis all made the first team, while Edger, Gerowski and Rivas were placed on the second team. Each student-athlete has also excelled in the classroom. In addition to Nissley at Bucknell, Bolte has a 3.89 GPA as a political science and east asian studies major, Vollmar carries a 3.76 GPA as a management major, and von Paris holds a 3.54 mark as an accounting major. Colgate's Sullivan maintains a 3.29 GPA as a history major and sociology/anthropology minor, while Georgetown's Oladeji holds a 3.26 mark as a nursing major. For Holy Cross, McCabe carries a 3.70 GPA as a classics major and Edger has a 3.23 mark as an economics major. Lafayette's four Academic All-Patriot League honorees are economics majors, with Ellis holding a 3.34 GPA, Gerowski at 3.50, O'Neil at 3.22 and Nardone coming in at 3.75. Lehigh's Randazza has a 3.80 GPA as an information and systems engineering major, while Rivas is at 3.53 as a finance major. To be eligible for the Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and the Academic All-Patriot League Team, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average and be a starter or key player in his/her sport. Freshmen or students in their first academic year at their school are not eligible for the honor. The Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year for each individual sport comprises the pool of nominees for the Patriot League Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards given out over the summer. One male and one female are selected for this honor. Patriot League Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Travis Nissley, Bucknell, Sr. Football Academic All-Patriot League Team Tim Bolte, Bucknell, Jr.
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