AUSTIN, Texas – Senior offensive lineman Sam 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, following wrestling teammates Seiji Borja (Third Team in 2013 and 2015) and Jared Holliday (Second Team in 2014 and 2015) and baseball’s Jeff Sneed (Third Team in 2016, Second Team in 2017). 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% in seven games and had a perfect 100% grade in Newberry’s 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.

Hall is Newberry’s second Academic All-American of the year across all sports. Men’s soccer player Quincy Kroeschell earned Third Team recognition last week.

Sam Hall is Newberry’s first student-athlete in any sport to earn two First Team selections
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_Hall-All-American.jpgSam Hall is Newberry’s first student-athlete in any sport to earn two First Team selections Courtesy photo

Staff Report