MOBILE, Ala. – Nearly one-third of the school's student-athletes were honored when the University of South Alabama Department of Athletics recognized academic achievements from the fall semester at the Scholar-Athlete Breakfast, which was held Thursday at the University Student Center Ballroom.

At least one member of each of South's 17 sport programs attended the ceremony, which consisted of 115 individuals who posted a grade-point average of 3.5 or better in the fall; that included a total of 37 student-athletes who recorded a 4.0 GPA during the term.

Fourteen Jaguar teams had a 3.0 GPA or higher last semester, with tennis honored both for having the highest term GPA and the most improved GPA from the previous spring among men's squads, and tennis posting the highest fall GPA — accomplishing the feat for the third straight semester — and cross country the most improved mark for the women.

"It is really difficult to be an excellent student and perform well in your chosen sport," University President Dr. Tony Waldrop said.  "A lot of people were key to that success, and [Director of Athletics] Dr. [Joel] Erdmann is certainly the lead in the athletic department; he sets the tone and the coaches follow his lead in making sure that you do focus on your academics.  Your slogan is 'Graduation, Citizenship, Championships' and I think the order of those is very important.  I'd like to thank the faculty, you're not the coach on the field but you are very important in contributing to all of those by providing support to our student-athletes."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Jaguar Athletic Fund (JAF) Priority Fund, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics.  Contributions to the Priority Fund directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/priorityfund

—USA—