Conway Native Selected First Team Academic All-American for Second Time

2017 Dec 13

Newberry College senior offensive lineman Samuel Hall is a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American for the second consecutive year, marking the first time in school history that a student-athlete in any sport has been named to the first team on multiple occasions.

"That's absolutely amazing. I'm so proud of Sam," said head coach Todd Knight. "Very rarely do you find a kid that's successful both on and off the field the way that Sam has been. I have no doubt that he's going to be successful in whatever avenue he decides to pursue."

Hall, who has a perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA as a Biology major, is just the fourth two-time Academic All-American in school history, and he is one of three football players to ever earn Academic All-America distinction.

The Conway native appeared in eight games for the Wolves this season with a start at each tackle position. He graded out at over 80 percent in seven games and had a perfect 100 percent grade in Newberry's thrilling come-from-behind win at Carson-Newman in September and played the entire final drive that culminated with Markell Castle's game-winning 30-yard touchdown reception with 39.3 seconds to play.

The Order of the Gray Stripe member won the inaugural Elite 18 (now Elite 20) award from the South Atlantic Conference in 2016 that recognizes the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the final site of competition in all conference sports.

Members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) select the Academic All-America teams and take both academic achievement and athletic accomplishments into account, honoring those who excel in every aspect of being a student-athlete.