Stephens: Don't overlook academic success of CSU athletes

The requirements of being a collegiate athlete are becoming increasingly difficult.

Today's college football player is stronger than he was 40 years ago, the point guard is quicker, the middle blocker more versatile.

Athlete evolution is undeniable, as the younger generations adapt their game to break the records set by their fathers or mothers, who years before challenged the marks set by their parents. It's why world records fall every year and will continue to for the foreseeable future.

Societal norm is for people to strive to be the absolute pinnacle in their given field, which is great for competition. But when it comes to collegiate sports, often taken for granted is what's required of student-athletes in the classroom. Not only do these young men and women need to be strong in body, but of mind, too.

Holding a minimum grade-point average of 2.0 at CSU isn't a difficult task. Showing up for classes and staying awake can get most students that far without requiring much studying after hours. The academic support services Colorado State University has should make achieving the lowest standards automatic. But just because something is easy doesn't mean it's a sure thing.

Keep in mind that it's 2014. The number of distractions these kids face to pull them away from class work increases by the day.

Thanks a lot, technology.

Fellow Mountain West schools UNLV and San Jose State are learning this the hard way. The Rebels received a 2014 football bowl ban last week while the Spartans are ineligible for any men's basketball postseason competition due to poor Academic Progress Rate scores. Both had four-year APR averages below 930, translating to fewer than 55 percent of their athletes graduating from the school.

Transfers only hurt scores if they leave with a GPA below 2.6.

Thankfully for CSU fans, no postseason bans are on the horizon. While the official APR report won't come out until June, the Rams' four-year scores from last season place them in a promising position. Director of student support services Steve McDonnell said CSU isn't anticipating any issues this summer.

Women's golf and cross country had perfect marks of 1,000 last year, volleyball came in at 995, and men's basketball at 955.

Football was the lowest at 947, but understand it's also the largest program with 85 scholarship student-athletes, meaning there's a greater potential to not have everyone make the grade. Nevertheless, all 15 seniors on last year's team did walk across the stage at Moby Arena and received a diploma.

That's remarkable.

And it's not as if CSU athletes are loading up on the low-valued "football" degrees, either, to keep themselves eligible. There will always be a few of those, but offensive lineman Mason Hathaway is majoring in sociology; tight end Kivon Cartwright in business administration; Blake Jones in mechanical engineering; safety Trent Matthews wants to go into medicine.

Men's basketball player John Gillon is focusing on marketing, volleyball's Marlee Reynolds is majoring in psychology and track and field superstar Kiah Hicks in chemistry.

The list goes on, but the point is clear — CSU is doing an excellent job of making the grade.

"We have about 380 student-athletes here and at the beginning of fall 2013, every student-athlete in every sport had at least a cumulative GPA of 2.0," McDonnell said. "I've been doing this for 28 years and I'd never seen that before. They're all genuinely committed to doing the right thing."

It's easy to focus all attention toward success the Rams have achieved on the field in recent years — winning a bowl game, reaching the NCAA tournament, NIT, yada, yada — but don't forget about what they're doing in the classroom.

UNLV went to its first postseason football game in 13 years last season, but if the Rebels were to build on that and go undefeated this fall, they'd still be staying home come bowl season.

CSU athletic director Jack Graham, football coach Jim McElwain and men's basketball coach Larry Eustachy regularly bring up that athletes have to make their grades to be champions on the field, and CSU continues to deliver on that message.

Don't take that for granted.

Follow reporter Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/mattstephens and facebook.com/stephensreporting.