SAN ANTONIO — Nate Leonard earned Capital One Academic All-District VII laurels, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced on Thursday. Leonard now is eligible for the Academic All-America ballot and he will be looking to earn the honor for the second consecutive season after being a second-teamer a year ago.
The center from McKinney maintains a 3.99 GPA in physical education and was named to the team for the third consecutive season. He is on track to graduate in May 2015.
Through the first eight games of the campaign, the 6-foot, 280-pounder is second among UTSA’s offensive linemen with 33 knockdown blocks while grading out at 77 percent. Also a 2014 Senior CLASS Award candidate, Leonard was a member of the preseason Dave Rimington Trophy watch list (nation’s top center) in addition to being a preseason second-team All-Conference USA selection by Athlon Sports.
He has written a weekly blog for goUTSA.com for the past two seasons after doing so for The Huffington Post in 2012.
Today's announcement comes a week after Leonard was tabbed one of 17 National Football Foundation Scholar-Athletes and, in turn, a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes the individual that is the absolute best scholar-athlete in the nation (a.k.a. the Academic Heisman).
The Capital One Academic All-District teams recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom and the squads are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States. Capital One has been the entitlement rights holder to CoSIDA’s Academic All-America teams programs since 2011. This year's honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.