This marks the first year that
honorees must boast a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the fall
semester and for their career. Freshman tailback Andre Brown and junior
long snapper William Lee both earned the prestigious award.
Lee, who will graduate in May and compete next year as a
graduate student, has never made a "B" in his life. He boasts a perfect
cumulative GPA of 4.0 in his major of mechanical engineering.
"This is a great honor," said the Fuquay-Varina native. "In my
position, we don't want to get any recognition on the football field,
but to get recognized for this is great."
Lee's dream is to use his
engineering degree by working for a Nascar team after graduation.
"I
want to design anything and everything to make cars faster." He says
that balancing football and academics has never been a problem for him.
"I've only had to pull one all-nighter since I've been in college," he
laughs, but adds that it during the football season.
Andre Brown is enrolled in the first-year college program, but
hopes to one day major in computer science or a related field. The
rookie says that having to attend prep school for a year after high
school was "embarrassing" and that one of his biggest regrets was
"slacking off" academically during his senior year.
"When I finally
got to NC State, my number-one goal was to make academic All-ACC," he
says. "This means more to me than anything I did on the football field
this year."
Brown posted a 3.10 GPA for the fall semester and has a combined
3.02 (he began classes at NC State during the second summer session of
2005). In addition to his football ambitions, Brown wants to one day
design computer video games.