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Since arriving in Orlando, George O’Leary has demanded that his players not only excel on the fi eld, but also succeed in their academic studies. The Knights have followed O’Leary’s lead, posti ng record numbers in the classroom on several occasions. During the fall of 2008, UCF posted the second-highest in-season grade point average in program history. Fift y-fi ve Knights had a GPA of 3.0 or bett er. At the conclusion of the 2009 spring semester, the Knights set an O’Leary era GPA record. Forty-nine Knights recorded a 3.0 GPA or bett er. Ten student-athletes received their bachelor’s degrees, including six current team members. UCF was recognized by the AFCA in 2009 for its outstanding graduati on rate as the Knights were one of 23 teams last fall to play in a bowl game and graduate at least 75-percent of its student-athletes.

SUCCESS OFF OF THE FIELD

In 2010, T.J. Harnden became the fi rst UCF football player, and the second acti ve stu-dent-athlete in any sport, to receive the Order of the Pegasus, the highest honor be-stowed by the University upon its students. The award honors outstanding academic achievement, University involvement, leadership and community service. Graduate students are selected separately based on academic achievement, professional or community service, leadership and publicati on or research experience.

• UCF’s APR (Academic Progress Rate) of 972 ranks seventh in the nati on amongst public non-miltary schools.• UCF’s team GPA ranks second only to Rice in Conference USA.• During the 2009-10 year, a league-record 46 members of the football team earned spots on the Conference USA Commission-er’s Academic Honor Roll with a 3.0 grade point average or bett er.• In 2009, 69 Knights wore “Scholar-Baller” helmet decals emblemati c of a 3.0 GPA.

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Sha’reff Rashad, who concluded his collegiate ca-reer in 2008, epitomized the Knights’ success in the classroom under O’Leary. The safety received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justi ce, with a minor in psychology. Aft er fi nishing his undergraduate studies with a 3.428 GPA, he began work on a master’s de-gree in criminal justi ce. In spring 2009, Rashad was selected as one of 12 recipients of Conference USA’s Postgraduate Scholarship Awards. He was a semifi -nalist for the Draddy Trophy and a candidate for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. On the fi eld in 2008, Ra-shad was an All-C-USA First Team pick aft er tying for second in the league with fi ve intercepti ons and later signed a contract with the New York Giants.

Each year the Knights are acti ve in the community, donati ng their ti me to worthy causes throughout central Florida. This past season, some of those acti viti es included visits to children at nearby hospitals and elementary schools, visits with special-needs students at a school on the UCF campus and even simply serving as role models for youth football teams.

In 2009, Rocky Ross became just the third ESPN The Maga-zine Academic All-American in UCF football history. Ross joined Keith Shologan (2007) to give the Knights two Academic All-Amer-icans in three years. With a 3.88 GPA, Ross was also named to the C-USA All-Academic team with the highest GPA on the 11-man squad. Ross earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justi ce and is currently working on a master’s in sports and fi tness.