Butler Places 63 On PFL Academic Honor Roll

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- The Pioneer Football League announced that a record 439 football student-athletes were named to the league’s Academic Honor Roll for the Fall 2010 semester, and a school-record 63 of those honorees were from Butler.  The Bulldogs had the second-highest total of players honored among the 10 PFL institutions.

Among the Butler players named to the Academic Honor Roll were nine student-athletes who also earned All-PFL recognition in 2010.  Those nine All-PFL players were sophomore linebacker Jordan Ridley (first team), senior offensive tackle Mike Staniewicz (Second Team), junior defensive lineman Ross Teare (Second Team), senior defensive back Tadd Dombart (Second Team), sophomore punter Michael Wilson (Second Team), senior running back Scott Gray (Honorable Mention), junior offensive lineman Pete Mattingly (Honorable Mention), junior linebacker Nick Caldicott (Honorable Mention) and junior placekicker David Lang (Honorable Mention).

Also named to the Academic Honor Roll from Butler were Greg Ambrose (Fr.), Nick Atkinson (So.), Bryce Barry (Fr.), Matt Benson (R-Fr.), Calvin Blair (So.), William Bork (Jr.), Jay Brummel (R-Fr.), Chris Burns (So.), John Cannova (Fr.), Joseph Ciancio (Fr.), Caleb Conway (Fr.), Kevin Cook (Fr.), Robert Cosler (Sr.), Andrew Cottrell (Jr.), Steven Depositar (So.), Josh Dorfman (Jr.), Christian Eble (Fr.), Matthew Foor (So.), Mark Giacomantonio (Jr.), Donnie Gilmore (Sr.), Sean Grady (R-Fr.), Dan Haber (R-Fr.), Scott Harvey (R-Fr.), Stuart Harvey (Jr.), Trae Heeter (Fr.), Jay Howard (Fr.), Andrew Huck (Jr.), Grant Hunter (Jr.), Jordan Koopman (Jr.), Robert Koteff (Jr.), William Lamar (So.), Jeff Larsen (Jr.), Tim Lukasik (So.), Wade Markley (Fr.), Jack McKenna (Jr.), JT Mesch (Fr.), Ryan Myers (So.), Nick Nykaza (Fr.), Derek O’Connor (Fr.), Bob Olszewski (Sr.), Logan Perry (Fr.), Jeff Poss (Jr.), Will Schierholz (Fr.), Charlie Schmelzer (So.), Jimmy Schwabe (Fr.), Paul Sciortino (R-Fr.), Brendan Shannon (R-Fr.), Tyler Skaggs (Sr.), Matt Storey (So.), Jayme Szafranski (Fr.), Jace Tennant (So.), Larry Thomas (Jr.), Brett Thomaston (So.), and Paul Yanow (Fr.).

The 63 players represent 64% of Butler’s 2010 football roster.  It was the largest number of players Butler has had on the PFL Academic Honor Roll.

Five member PFL schools boasted 40 or more student-athletes on the Academic Honor Roll this season.  Dayton led all members with 69 student-athletes honored, followed by Butler.  Davidson had 60 players recognized, Drake had 55 and San Diego had 44.

Pioneer Football League athletic directors and coaches established the honor roll as a way to recognize the league’s outstanding student-athletes.  The academic honor roll consists of student-athletes who participated in football at a member institution durng the fall semester and posted a 3.0 grade point average or higher during semester while enrolled full-time in accordance with NCAA rules.