Three Spartan Football Players Earn Academic All-District Honors
11/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 13, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Three Michigan State football players - junior offensive tackle Gordon Niebylski, sophomore punter Brandon Fields and junior center Chris Morris - have earned Academic All-District IV honors as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Niebylski has been named to the Academic All-District IV First Team while Fields and Morris received Second-Team recognition.
To be nominated for the Academic All-District Team, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) for his career. He also must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing.
District IV includes all schools from the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
The 6-foot-3, 308-pound Niebylski has appeared in all nine games in 2004, including three starts at left tackle while Stefon Wheeler was sidelined with a sprained ankle. He has graded out 90 percent or higher in all nine games, scoring a season-best 98 percent at Rutgers in the season opener. Niebylski played perhaps his best all-around game vs. Illinois, grading out 97 percent including a career-best six pancakes. The Farmington, Mich., native sports a 3.59 grade-point average in supply chain management.
Thanks to his Academic All-District IV First-Team selection, Niebylski's name now appears on the national ballot for Academic All-America honors (released Dec. 1).
Fields, who leads the NCAA in punting with his 48.6-yard average, has been named one of 10 semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top punter by the Greater Augusta (Ga.) Sports Council. He earned Midseason All-America honors from SI.com and Collegefootballnews.com. The 6-6, 234-pound Fields has hit 19 punts 50 or more yards and had 11 kicks downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line. His career 47.2-yard punting average ranks No. 1 on MSU's and the Big Ten's all-time lists. The Toledo, Ohio, native has a 3.41 grade-point average in kinesiology.
The 6-4, 298-pound Morris has started 22-straight games at center for the Spartans. He has graded out 90 percent or better in eight of nine games in 2004, including the first eight contests. Morris played a near-perfect game vs. Illinois, grading 99 percent including nine pancake blocks. He ranks second on the team in pancakes with 62, including a career-best 15 knockdowns at Michigan (96 percent). The Lambertville, Mich., native owns a 3.26 grade-point average in finance.
