UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The NCAA's Academic Progress Rate (APR) announcement on Wednesday was another record breaker for the Penn State football program and its tradition of academic excellence.
During the 2014-15 academic year, the NCAA reported the Nittany Lions earned an APR score of 993 out of 1,000, a record yearly high for the program. The mark was also the second-best single-year APR in the Big Ten to Northwestern (997). The 993 tally was an increase of 25 points from the team's 968 APR score the previous year during the sanctions period and came in James Franklin's first full academic year as head coach.
The team's previous high for yearly APR was a 985 score in 2004-05, the second year the NCAA began calculating APR.
The Nittany Lions have improved their yearly APR score during each of the past three years, having posted a 947 score during the 2012-13 academic year, to boost their multi-year APR score to 960 in this week's NCAA report. That figure is an improvement from 956 in last year's APR report.
Penn State football's four-year APR score is higher than the NCAA Division I football average of 959 and the Division I public institution football average of 956 through 2014-15. The Nittany Lions' multi-year APR score has been above the Division I football average in all 11 NCAA APR reports.
"We are very proud that we continue to break academic records," Franklin said. "The fact that we have the highest APR in program history and a record number of players earning 3.0 GPAs in the fall semester shows that our guys truly understand what it means to be a Penn State student-athlete. We are grateful to have the Morgan Academic Center that provides outstanding resources and academic staff to support our student-athletes."
In the latest four-year APR snapshot, the first two years reflect the impact of the events starting in Nov. 2011 and the sanctions, with players able to transfer and be immediately eligible at another school. These transfers reduced the number of earned retention points in the APR formula and significantly impacted the team's four-year APR score in the 2013-15 NCAA APR reports.
Overall, the NCAA reported that 13 Penn State teams earned perfect APR scores of 1,000 in 2014-15, up from 10 the previous year. Four Penn State squads earned perfect multi-year (2011-12 through 2014-15) APR scores of 1,000: women's cross country, women's hockey, women's soccer and women's tennis. The average multi-year APR score for Penn State's 29 varsity teams and 800 student-athletes is 984, well above the Division I average of 979, according to the NCAA (the men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field teams are combined in the APR data).
The APR announcement is the latest in a series of academic achievements for the Nittany Lion football program, who consistently are at or near the top nationally in academic success:
- During the 2015 fall semester, a program record 56 squad members earned at least a 3.0 grade-point average. This marked the fifth consecutive semester (including summer sessions) that the Nittany Lions had more than 50 student-athletes with a 3.0 GPA or better. The 56 Nittany Lions with a 3.0 GPA or higher surpassed the mark of 55 set by the 2008 fall semester for the most 3.0 students in a semester in football program history.
- A total of 23 Nittany Lions posted a 3.5 GPA or higher in the fall semester, with 19 earning Dean's List recognition for having 3.5 GPA or higher with 12 credits earned in undergraduate work.
- The Nittany Lion freshmen were impressive in the fall semester, with 14 posting a 3.0 or higher.
- Overall, 51 football student-athletes owned a 3.0 cumulative GPA or higher after the fall semester, with 21 owning a 3.5 cumulative GPA or higher.
- The fall semester also saw 45 student-athletes improve their cumulative GPA since the 2015 spring semester. There were 43 Nittany Lions that earned all A's and B's during the fall semester and 23 Nittany Lions earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition last fall.
- A Big Ten Conference-high 17 members of the Penn State football team had earned their degrees prior to the Nittany Lions' appearance in the TaxSlayer Bowl to rank tied for 11th among all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institutions.
- Penn State's all-time total of 64 CoSIDA Academic All-America® football honorees ranks second among all FBS institutions. Junior Tyler Yazujian earned a 4.0 GPA last fall and was a second-team Academic All-America selection.
- A total of 371 of Penn State football student-athletes, including 23 in 2015, have earned Academic All-Big Ten honors since 1993 for owning at least a 3.0 grade point average and being a letterwinner.