KLOBUCHER NAMED A ESPN THE MAGAZINE ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN

Ferris State Senior Recognized For His Outstanding Academic and Athletic Success

Mike Klobucher earns first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors.

Ferris State University senior middle linebacker Mike Klobucher (Grand Haven/North Muskegon) has been named a first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America football team selection as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) in an announcement made Thursday (Nov. 30).

Klobucher was one of 25 football student-athletes named to the first-team College Division squad and the only representative from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). Receiving the most votes was Pittsburg (Kan.) State's defensive lineman Ryan Meredith, who was named the College Division Player of the Year as a result.

Klobucher, a two-time (2005-06) ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV selection, joins an elite list of 23 former Ferris State student-athletes who have received either first or second team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors. Klobucher is also among three players in FSU football history to attain the prestigious honor with Monty Brown (1992-first team) and Jeff Fisher (1997-second team) previously attaining the national recognition.

A 2006 National Football Foundation (NFF) $18,000 postgraduate scholarship winner, Klobucher is currently a finalist for the prestigious Draddy Trophy as the nation's top college football scholar-athlete, which will be presented at the 49th annual NFF Awards Dinner on Tuesday, Dec. 5, in New York City. A three-time (2004-06) GLIAC All-Academic Team member, Klobucher has been the team's recipient of the FSU President's Academic Award the last two seasons (2005-06) for having the squad's highest grade point average. The applied biology major was a co-award winner the two previous years (2003-04).

On the field this season, Klobucher paced Ferris State in tackles for the third year in a row with 92 total stops (47 solos) in 10 contests. The 2006 first-team All-GLIAC pick and two-time (2005-06) Ferris State Most Valuable Player concluded a four-year career ranking seventh among the Bulldogs' all-time leaders with 389 career tackles (206 solos) in 42 outings.

Student-athletes must have reached at least sophomore status academically at their current institution, maintain a 3.20 cumulative grade point average on a scale of 4.00, and be a starter or key reserve on their team.

This year represents the 55th anniversary of the Academic All-America program, which was founded by CoSIDA in 1952 to recognize collegiate student-athletes for their outstanding achievements in the classroom and on the playing field. Over the years, the program has grown into one of the most recognized and prestigious collegiate scholar-athlete awards nationwide, honoring student-athletes from all NCAA championship sports. This season marks ESPN The Magazine's third year of sponsoring the Academic All-America program, whcih was formerly endorsed by Verizon.