Lincoln ? University of Nebraska first baseman Brandon Buckman was honored this week, as he was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America? Baseball Team.
A senior from Monument, Colo., Buckman was named a first-team Academic All-American in national voting. A civil engineering major who carries a 3.48 GPA, Buckman earned first-team All-Big 12 honors this season and hit .339 with 14 homers and a team-high 51 RBIs in 58 contests in 2006. Buckman finished third in the Big 12 in homers and 20th in batting average, while ranking second on the squad in hits (78) and third in runs scored (43). In the classroom, he also earned first-team academic all-Big 12 honors and was a finalist for UNL Male Student-Athlete of the Year. He was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 19th round of the 2006 MLB Draft earlier this month.
Buckman is the 15th Husker baseball player to earn Academic All-America honors and the 10th NU baseball player honored since the 1998 season. He was also Nebraska's first first-team Academic All-American since Jeff Leise and Aaron Marsden in 2003.
The Academic All-America teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA (the College Sports Information Directors of America), a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
ESPN The Magazine ? winner of the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence ? is a provocative and innovative sports publication. Full of insight, analysis, impact and wit, the oversized bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.85 million looks ahead to give fans a unique perspective on the world of sports.