Brandon Basken Named Second Team Academic All-American

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Posted: Thursday, December 1, 2005

WALTHAM, MA - Seniors Nick Hartigan of Brown University and Josh Lamberson of Northwest Missouri State University head the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America? football teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors Association.

Hartigan, owner of a 3.91 grade point average as a political science and history major, was named the Academic All-America of the Year for the university division while Lamberson received the same honor for the college division. The corporate recreation and biology major from Wilber, Neb. has a perfect 4.00 GPA.

Hartigan, the unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year, is a top-three finalist for the Walter Payton Award, the NCAA Division I-AA "Heisman Trophy" honor. The All-American running back led the nation in rushing (172.7 ypg) and scoring (12.6 ppg) while leading Brown to its first outright Ivy League title and a 9-1 record (second-most wins in school history). Hartigan, who is from Fairfax, Va., is a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete award recipient and a finalist for the Draddy Award, the "Academic Heisman."

Lamberson has overcome a career-threatening hip injury to guide Northwest Missouri (10-3 in 2005) to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Championships. On the school's single-season lists, he ranks third in passing yardage (3,195) and second in TD's (30). A first-team Academic All-America selection in 2004, Lamberson, who has a career completion percentage of 66 percent, is second on the school's all-time passing yardage list with 6,794 yards.

Seven schools placed two athletes on the Academic All-America first team?Kentucky, Nebraska and San Diego on the University Division team, and Carnegie Mellon, Nebraska Wesleyan, Pittsburg State and St. John's (Minn.) on the College Division team.

Led by Hartigan, the University Division had six student-athletes repeat as Academic All-Americas. Joining him as repeat selections were first-teamers Rudy Niswanger (LSU), Perry Cox (Western Illinois), Reed Doughty (Northern Colorado) and Joey King (Portland State), and second-teamer Greg Eslinger (Minnesota).

Doughty earned Academic All-America honors for a third straight year, but interestingly, he was a College Division selection in 2003, as that was UNC's last year competing as a Division II member before jumping to I-AA.

Lamberson was one of nine repeat selections at the College Division level. Joining him on the team for a second straight year were: Ryan Koch (St. Cloud State), Chris Beyer (Pittsburg State), Ben Kessler (St. Thomas, Minn.), Grant Cochran (RPI), Matt Hawn (St. Johns, Minn.), Lloyd Price (California, Pa.), Ben Hare (North Central) and Ryan Meredith (Pittsburg State).

The Big Ten Conference led all leagues from both divisions with eight Academic All-America selections.

The Academic All-America? Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, the College Sports Information Directors of America; a 2,000-member organization consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

ESPN The Magazine - winner of the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence - is a provocative and innovative sports publication. Full of insight, analysis, impact and wit, the oversized bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.85 million looks ahead to give fans a unique perspective on the world of sports.