The Florida Gators: 'Dem so smart!

The official University of Florida athletics website, Gator Zone, is taking notice of the fine job the football team is doing in the classroom. I think it's good that the athletes are actually taking part in class and making the grades to remain in one of the top public institutions to grace this planet since Socrates' Academy.

Here is their story:


More than 45 percent of the University of Florida football student athletes earned above a 3.0 grade point average in the 2008 Spring semester, head coach Urban Meyer announced Thursday.

“I’m proud of the continued improvement of our football team in the classroom, said Urban Meyer. “There are some tremendous success stories our student-athletes have to tell and it is a tribute to their academic commitment.”

Overall, 58 players posted above a 3.0 GPA, including 32 scholarship players and the team posted an overall GPA of 2.86. Those numbers were higher than UF's record-setting numbers from the fall when the team GPA was 2.81.

The number of players above a 3.0 GPA and the cumulative team average are the highest for the football team since records have been kept.

The Florida football team also posted a 72 percent graduation success rate according to data released by the NCAA last fall and the NCAA announced this week the team’s Academic Progress Rate was 962, which ranks in the 80-90th percentile among all football programs in college football.

Team Grade Point Averages Under Urban Meyer
Spring 2005 2.58
Fall 2005 2.65
Spring 2006 2.70
Fall 2006 2.72
Spring 2007 2.77
Fall 2007 2.81
Spring 2008 2.86

As you can see, Urban has the boys headed in the right direction. Still, if I ever came home from school while I was in college and showed my dad a 2.8 GPA, I would be disowned.