Stanford's Rhyne named Pac-12 football scholar-athlete of the year
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - STANFORD punter Ben Rhyne has been named the 2013 football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, announced by the Pac-12 Conference today. These awards have been established to honor collegiate student-athletes that are standouts both academically and in their sports discipline.
Rhyne, a senior from Charlotte, N.C., is majoring in biomechanical engineering, maintaining a 3.88 grade point average. As the starting punter for the top-10 ranked Cardinal in 2013, he averaged 42.2 yards per punt, good for fourth in the Conference. Fifteen of his punts were downed inside the 20-yard line while he had nine kicks of 50-plus yards, including a career-long 58-yarder against Washington earlier in the season. Rhyne was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention and earned first-team All-Academic honors in 2013.
"The Pac-12 Conference has great pride and respect for our rich history of academic and athletic excellence," said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott. "We are proud of this year's group of student-athletes and their dedication to achieving success in sports and in the classroom."
In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50% of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport’s regular season. The athletic accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in the voting for the award.
A Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be named in each of the Pac-12’s 22 sponsored sports: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, men’s rowing, women’s rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s track & field, women’s track & field, women’s volleyball, and wrestling.
The Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year Awards were established during the 2007-08 academic year.
Other nominees included: Jake Fischer, ARIZ; Gannon Conway, ASU; Mark Brazinski, CAL; Nate Bonsu, COLO; Taylor Hart, ORE; Steven Christian, OSU; Devon Kennard, USC; Sean Fitzgerald, Utah; Andrew Furney; WSU.