Fourteen Diamond Dogs On SEC Academic Honor Roll
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Fourteen members of the 2010 Mississippi State University baseball team are among 63 Bulldog and Lady Bulldog student-athletes that have been accorded academic all-conference honors for the spring semester by the Southeastern Conference, the league office in Birmingham, Ala., announced this week. Only South Carolina (19) and Vanderbilt (15) placed more baseball players on the league's 2010 SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll.
Fifth-year senior infielder Russ Sneed of Senatobia, Miss., heads up this year's list of Diamond Dog academic all-SEC selections. Sneed earned his fourth SEC Academic Honor Roll designation this spring after having previously been named to the SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll for 2006.
Four other MSU seniors, infielder Jet Butler of Pensacola, Fla., pitcher Greg Houston of Hoover, Ala., first baseman Connor Powers of Naperville, Ill., and pitcher Tyler Whitney of Lakeland, Tenn., were named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll for the third time. All were 2007 SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll selections.
Also named to this year's academic honor squad were a pair of second-year recipients, outfielder Brent Brownlee of Oxford, Miss., and pitcher Justin Bussey of Dora, Ala., and seven first-year honorees, outfielder Luke Adkins of Nettleton, Miss., pitcher Corey Collins of Littleton, Colo., catcher Cody Freeman of Collinsville, Miss., pitcher Trey Johnson of Tyler, Texas, pitcher Nick Routt of Silver Spring, Md., outfielder Jaron Shepherd of Kilgore, Texas, and catcher Wesley Thigpen of Luling, La.
Among qualifications for the SEC Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must have compiled a grade point average of 3.00 or better for the preceding academic year of have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00.
Since the Southeastern Conference initiated its academic honors program for student-athletes in 1971, Mississippi State baseball players have received academic all-conference or honor roll status a conference-leading 298 times.
SEC Baseball Academic Honors (1971-2010)
School 2010 All-time
Mississippi State 14 298
Vanderbilt 15 214
Florida 8 197
South Carolina 19 191
Louisiana State 9 182
Ole Miss 13 181
Kentucky 13 181
Arkansas 6 170
Georgia 10 149
Alabama 12 147
Auburn 9 127
Tennessee 8 125