Seven Butler Football Players Named Academic All-PFL

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- Seven Butler football players have been named to the 18th annual Academic All-PFL team, announced by the Pioneer Football League on Wednesday, Feb. 9.  The Bulldogs had four players named to the first team on the academic honor squad and three players chosen second team.

Junior quarterback Andrew Huck and junior placekicker David Lang both were named first team Academic All-PFL for the second consecutive year.  Huck, a biology major with a 3.65 grad point average, passed for 1,865 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2010.  Lang, who boasts a 3.44 grade point average as an exercise science major, led the Bulldogs in scoring last season with 62 points, including a school-record 14 field goals.

Senior offensive lineman Mike Staniewicz earned first team honors this season, after being named second team Academic All-PFL in 2009.  Staniewicz, a finance major with a 3.37 grade point average, started all 11 games in 2010 and 44 of 45 games during his four-year career.  Butler’s fourth first team pick was sophomore punter Michael Wilson.  An economics major with a 3.98 grade point average, Wilson finished fifth in the PFL in punting with a 38.5 average last fall.

Named second team Academic All-PFL from Butler were junior linebacker Nick Caldicott, sophomore linebacker Jordan Ridley and junior defensive end Grant Hunter.  Caldicott, a management information systems major with a 3.24 grade point average, was Butler’s second-leading tackler in 2010 with 60 total tackles.  Ridley, who’s compiled a 3.25 grade point average as an exercise science major, led the PFL in tackles last fall with 130.  Hunter, a sociology and criminology major with a 3.39 grade point average, led Butler in tackles for loss (10), despite missing two games.  Hunter was an Academic All-America selection a year ago.

A total of 51 student-athletes were honored on the 2010 Academic All-PFL squad.

PFL athletic directors established the Academic All-PFL squad in 1983 as a way to recognize the league’s outstanding student-athletes.  To be nominated, the student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.00 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale).  No athlete is eligible until he has reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his institution.