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JULY 1, 2021
COLUMBUS,
Ohio – Fourteen Ohio State
Buckeye football players were honored on Thursday by the Big Ten Conference as
Distinguished Scholars as a result of their work in the classroom during the
2020-21 academic year. Student-athletes must maintain at least a 3.70 grade
point average for the school year to earn the prestigious honor.
The
Buckeye honorees are: LB Tuf Borland, OL Gavin Cupp,
K Dominic DiMaccio, TE Luke Farrell, K Blake Haubeil,
TE Jake Hausmann, LB Justin Hilliard, QB Gunnar
Hoak, OL Ryan Jacoby, OL Chris Kuhn, LS Roen
McCullough, OL Harry Miller, TE Corey Rau and
OL Zach Stevenson.
In
addition, Farrell, Cupp and Rau were among 16 football players conference-wide
to maintain a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the 2020-21 academic year.
Farrell, who also had a 4.0 GPA in during the 2019-20, is a two-time honoree
while the other 12 earned the honor for the first time in their careers.
Eight of
Ohio State’s 14 Distinguished Scholars were graduate students in 2020-21 and
the offensive line rooms led all positions with five honorees. The tight end
room wasn’t far behind with three of the six that were eligible making the
list.
This good
news continues what has been an exceptional stretch of academic achievement for
head coach Ryan Day’s program. Consider:
- A program record 61 student-athletes, including 44 scholarship
players, named an OSU Scholar-Athlete for having a cumulative GPA of 3.00
and above for the 2020-21 academic year;
- A program record 40 named Academic All-Big Ten
Conference this past season; this honor is open to those who have been
enrolled for at least a full year and carry a cumulative 3.00 grade point
average;
- A cumulative GPA for this spring semester of 3.05; and
- A current GPA for all scholarship players on the cusp
of 3.00: 2.998.
- The football team has had four consecutive semesters
under Day with a team cumulative GPA of at least 3.00, including a 3.206
cumulative GPA in autumn 2020 and a 3.347 GPA in spring of 2020.
2020-21 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars
LB Tuf Borland, Graduate – Sports Coaching (first award)
OL Gavin Cupp, Graduate – Kinesiology (first award)
K Dominic DiMaccio, Senior – Consumer and Family Financial Services (first
award)
TE Luke Farrell, Graduate – Human Development and Family Science (second award)
K Blake Haubeil, Graduate
– Communication (first award)
TE Jake Hausmann, Graduate – Health Care Innovation (first award)
LB Justin Hilliard, Graduate – Consumer Sciences (first award)
QB Gunnar Hoak, Graduate – Sports Coaching (first award)
OL Ryan Jacoby, Junior – Hospitality Management (first award)
OL Chris Kuhn, Junior – Construction Systems Management (first award)
LS Roen McCullough, Junior – Finance (first award)
OL Harry Miller, Sophomore – Mechanical Engineering (first award)
TE Corey Rau, Graduate – Sports Coaching
OL Zach Stevenson, Sophomore – Medical Laboratory Science (first award)
