Five members of the Ohio State football team have been recognized as prestigious Big Ten Distinguished Scholars. TE Luke Farrell, WR C.J. Saunders, DL Zaid Hamdan, LB Ben Schmiesing and SAF Ryan Batsch all received the honor. Student-athletes must maintain at least a 3.70 grade point average for the school year to qualify. All five players are first-time honorees.
But that’s not all. Farrell and Schmiesing were among 13 football players in the entire Big Ten to maintain a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the 2019-20 academic year. In addition, Ohio State led the conference in the total number of Big Ten Distinguished Scholars with a whopping 164, surpassing the 131 from last academic year. OSU has led the conference now for five-straight years.
And yet, uneducated folks around the country rail on Ohio State’s academics.
☝️🎓 Buckeyes top @bigten with 164 distinguished scholars
👏 3.7 GPA or better
👏 26 student-athletes with 4.0 GPACongrats! #GoBuckeyes https://t.co/1LvCaWiiA0
— Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) July 1, 2020
Here are some notes about each of the five players provided in a release by the university.