Football
Classroom Excellence and Award Watch Lists
From Press Releases
Classroom Excellence:
A number of Buckeye football players have been doing well in the classroom, but three of them have done exceptionally well this spring. Senior fullback Brandon Schnittker, junior fullback Stan White Jr. and sophomore wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez all recorded 4.0 GPAs spring quarter.
"I usually have my best quarters when I really have to manage my time," said Schnittker, a marketing major, with a 3.8 GPA.
"When you have to spend three of four hours on the practice field, you know every minute of your study time is important. So during the fall and spring, I know I really have to apply myself."
Schnittker, a native of Sandusky, Ohio, hopes to go into college coaching after his football career is over.
"I have always been interested in education, and coaching is an extension of that," he said. "I am fascinated by the mental part of the game.
"Coach (Jim) Tressel has been a very positive influence for me. I think he does things the right way and I try to learn by watching him. Without really knowing it, he has furthered my interest in the profession."
As a team, Ohio State had 48 players with a GPA of 3.00 or higher in the spring.
Award Watch Lists:
A total of 24 Big Ten football standouts have been honored over the past few months by being named to the watch lists for the Chuck Bednarik Award (top defensive player), Rotary Lombardi Award (outstanding lineman), Lott Trophy (top defensive player) and Maxwell Award (top college player), and those lists include several Buckeyes.
Five Conference standouts appear on multiple watch lists in Iowa’s Chad Greenway and Abdul Hodge, Michigan’Gabe Watson, Northwestern’s Tim McGarigleand Ohio State's A.J. Hawk.
The Big Ten’s nine student-athletes on the Maxwell Award watch list are Iowa quarterback. Drew Tate, Michigan’s trio of wideout Steve Breaston, running back Michael Hart, and quarterback Chad Henne, Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton, Ohio State wide receivers Ted Ginn and Santonio Holmes and the Penn State duo of running back Tony Huntand quarterback Michael Robinson.
The Bednarik Award watch list features 10 Conference standouts in Iowa’s Greenway and Hodge, Michigan’s Watson, Northwestern’s McGarigle, Ohio State's Hawk and Bobby Carpenter, Penn State's Dan Connor Paul Poslusznyand Alan Zemaitisand Wisconsin's Dontez Sanders.
The Lott Trophy, which enters its second year honoring a defensive player based on both performance and character, tabbed six Big Ten players for its watch list including Illinois’ Morris Virgil, Greenway, Hodge, Watson, McGarigle and Hawk.
The Big Ten placed eight student-athletes on the Lombardi Award watch list, including Greenway, Hodge, Hawk, Minnesota's Greg Eslinger and four standouts from Michigan -- Matt Lentz Tim Massaquoi Adam Stenavich and Watson. Conference standouts have earned six Lombardi Awards, most recently when Ohio State’s Orlando Pace claimed the honor in 1995 and 1996.
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