Hanberry, Scofield are Academic All-Americans

Staff Report
Nicholls State University football senior safety Jordan Hanberry has been named to the 2013 Capital One Academic All-America Division I First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Hanberry, a two-time Southland All-Academic honoree, is one of 24 players to be named to the first team, which consists of both FCS and FBS players.
Hanberry is the first Colonel in program history to receive Academic All-America honors.
Additionally, he is the lone representative from the Southland Conference.
“Jordan is very deserving of this honor,” Nicholls football head coach Charlie Stubbs said in a university release. “He is the true definition of a student-athlete. His hard work shows that you can be successful in the classroom and on the field.”
A native of River Ridge, Hanberry has maintained a 4.0 GPA in biology for his career at Nicholls and plans to attend medical school after graduation.
Hanberry is a three-time member of the Southland Conference Commissioner’s Fall Honor Roll and has won the Nicholls Student-Athlete Award for Academic Excellence the last two years.
Earlier last month, he was named to the 2013 Capital One Academic All-District 6 Team, which made him eligible for Academic All-America consideration.
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 on a scale of 4.0, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his current institution and be nominated by their sports information director.
On the field, Hanberry, a four-year letter winner, started for the Colonel defense, playing in all 12 games this season. He finished sixth on the team in tackles with 58, including 41 solo stops and four tackles for loss. Hanberry also had two pass break ups as Nicholls finished ranked second in the Southland in pass defense.
Hanberry had seven or more tackles in four different games in his senior campaign, including a career-high 10 in the Colonels’ victory at FBS Western Michigan.
Against Northwestern State, he forced a fumble to help Nicholls snap its conference losing streak.
For his career, Hanberry totaled 160 tackles, nine pass break ups and two forced fumbles in 40 games. Hanberry also had an interception in his freshman season in the win at Northwestern State in 2010.
In all, 48 players were named to the Capital One Academic All- America Teams — consisting of a first and second-team. Hanberry was one of three players to earn a 4.0 GPA, which contributed to a collective 3.78 GPA by the first team.
Tulane’s Sam Scofield was a second-team selection.
He also was named to the 2013 Conference USA Football All-Academic team for the second straight year.
A Lafayette native, Scofield has been a solid performer both on the field and in the classroom since he arrived to Tulane in 2011.
Off the field, Scofield sports a 3.74 grade point average as a finance major and was also named to the 2013 CoSIDA Capital One All-District 6 First Team.
He is now a two-time member of the C-USA All-Academic Football Team after receiving the same award a year ago as a sophomore and is also a two-time member of the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll, the Tulane 3.0 Club and has twice received the C-USA Academic Medal.
This season, Scofield has been a constant force in the Green Wave secondary and is one reason why the Tulane defense is rated the 26th-best defensive unit in the nation.
Scofield has started all 12 games at strong safety and leads the team in tackles with 94, ranks third with 9.5 stops for lost yardage, has 1.5 sacks, 8 pass breakups, and has forced 2 fumbles and also recovered 2.
Scofield is tied for third in the conference and ranks 24th nationally with 5.5 solo tackles per game and ranks sixth among C-USA players in tackles per game with 7.8.
Earlier this season, he was named the Football Writers Association of America/Bronko Nagurski National Player of the Week, the C-USA and Louisiana Defensive Player of the Week and the College Sports Madness C-USA Defensive Player of the Week following Tulane’s win against Tulsa on Oct. 26 when he logged 18 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. For his efforts, he was added to the Bronko Nagurski Watch List.
Scofield is the 22nd Tulane student-athlete to receive Academic All-America honors and just the fifth football player. He is the first Green Wave student-athlete to garner Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA since the baseball duo of Jeremy Schaffer (second team) Brandon Boudreaux (third team) each earned the honor in 2012.
Scofield is the first football player to collect the prestigious award since former running back Andre Anderson was tabbed to the first team in 2009.
Scofield will lead the Green Wave into action against his hometown school, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, in the 2013 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN.
Tickets for the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl are $40 and $60 each and will be located on the west side of the Superdome behind the Tulane bench. The first 1,000 fans to purchase their tickets will receive a commemorative bowl T-shirt and a ticket to the men’s basketball games on Dec. 21-22.
Contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office, located on the first floor of the Wilson Center on Ben Weiner Drive, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., at 504-861-WAVE (9283) or at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.