University of Georgia Athletics
SEC Schools Lead Nation in First-Team Academic All-Americans
August 07, 2006 | General
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- During the 2005-06 academic year, the Southeastern Conference placed 17 of its student-athletes on first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Teams as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, more than any Division I conference in the nation.
CoSIDA selects Academic All-America teams in 12 programs: football, women’s volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball, men’s track & field/cross country, women’s track & field/cross country, men’s at-large and women’s at-large. A first team, second team and third team are selected in both the University (Division I and I-AA) and College (Division II, III and NAIA) Divisions. Football consists of just first and second teams.
The SEC does not sponsor men’s soccer as a championship sport.
The SEC had 34 of its student-athletes earn Academic All-America status overall, which ranked second behind the Big Ten Conference, which had 38 student-athletes make Academic All-America mention.
Ten of the 12 SEC Schools had at least one person on the first-team.
The Big 12 finished second behind the SEC in first-team Academic All-Americans with 16 and third overall with 33. The Big Ten was third in first-team Academic All-Americans with 14.
The Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East tied for fourth in first-team Academic All-Americans with 13 while the Pac-10 was sixth with 10. The ACC was fourth in total Academic All-Americans with 32 followed by the Big East with 26 and the Pac-10 with 24.
The entire listing of the 2005-06 SEC Academic All-America selections follows:
| Name | School | Sport | Year | Hometown | GPA/Major |
| Dara Altman | Florida | W-Track/CC | Sr. | Tampa, Fla. | 3.98 / Exercise & Sport Sciences |
| Taylor Begley | Kentucky | Football | Gr. | Danville, Ky. | 3.82 / Electrical Engineering |
| Kurt Cady | Auburn | M-Swimming | Sr. | Las Vegas, Nev. | 3.62 / Civil Engineering |
| Kasi Carroll | Georgia | Softball | Jr. | Norris City, Ill. | 3.83 / Early Childhood Education |
| Kara Denby | Auburn | W-Swimming | Jr. | Simi Valley, Calif. | 4.00 / Zoology |
| Stephanie Hill | LSU | Softball | Sr. | Harahan, La. | 3.89 / Finance & Political Science |
| Angela Homan | Auburn | W-Track/CC | Sr. | Spencerville, Ohio | 3.90 / Exercise Science |
| Hayden Lane | Kentucky | Football | Gr. | Lawrenceville, Ga. | 3.95 / Anthropology & Classics |
| Beth Mallory | Alabama | W-Track/CC | Sr. | Ashland, Ohio | 3.83 / Physical Education |
| Rudy Niswanger | LSU | Football | Gr. | Monroe, La. | 4.00 / Pre-Medicine |
| Jose-Carlos Pinto | Miss. State | M-Tennis | Sr. | Sao Paulo, Brazil | 3.99 / Banking & Finance |
| Emeel Salem | Alabama | Baseball | Jr. | Mountain Brook, Ala. | 3.90 / Marketing & Spanish |
| *Lindsay Schutzler | Tennessee | Softball | Jr. | Monterey, Calif. | 3.86 / Psychology |
| Ashley Smith | South Carolina | Softball | Sr. | Portage, Mich. | 4.00 / Civil Engineering |
| Joseph Sykora | Alabama | M-Golf | Jr. | Daphne, Ala. | 4.00 / Business |
| Jaanus Uudmae | Arkansas | M-Track/CC | Gr. | Tallin, Estonia | 4.00 / Computer Science Engineering |
| Shanna Zolman | Tennessee | W-Basketball | Sr. | Syracuse, Ind. | 3.56 / Journalism |
