UK Athletics Posts School-Record 12 Academic All-Americans in 2022-23

A school-record 12 University of Kentucky athletes were elected to the official Academic All-America teams from the College Sports Communicators (CSC) organization during the 2022-23 school year, capping another year of academic success for UK Athletics.

The total of 12 Wildcats breaks the school record of 10 Academic All-Americans set during the 2020-21 school year. Nine of the Wildcats earned first-team designation, one was second team and two more were third team.  One Wildcat – quarterback Will Levis – was named the Academic All-American of the Year in his sport, signifying his status as the top student-athlete among all NCAA Division I football players.

Additional statistics include:

• UK’s total of 12 Academic All-Americans tied for fourth in the nation among the 363 Division I schools.
• This improves Kentucky’s all-time total to 143 Academic All-Americans, which ranks 18^th all-time in Division I.
• UK has had 106 Academic All-Americans since 2000, 10^th among Division I institutions during that time frame.

To qualify for Academic All-America, a student-athlete must have a career grade-point average of at least 3.5, be a sophomore or higher in academic and athletic standing, and be a starter or important reserve for his or her team. Each qualifying athlete is automatically named to the Academic All-District team and goes on the national ballot for the sport. Voting is conducted by the CSC (formerly the College Sports Information Directors of America) membership.

UK’s Academic All-Americans for the 2022-23 school year feature (first team unless noted otherwise):

• Caitlin Brooks, women’s swimming and diving
• Erin Coffel, softball (third team)
• Ben Damge, men’s soccer
• Laney Frye, women’s golf
• Izzy Gati, women’s swimming and diving
• Luis Grassow, men’s soccer
• Jackson Gray, baseball (second team)
• Kayla Kowalik, softball
• Will Levis, football (Academic All-American of the Year for football)
• Lauren Poole, women’s swimming and diving
• Anna Havens Rice, women’s swimming and diving (third team)
• Josh Sobota, men’s track and field

UK Athletics’ academic highlights for 2022-23 also feature:

• School record 167 graduates, including 19 with master’s degrees
• UK tied the school record for its NCAA Graduation Success Rate of 92 percent, three points above the national average of 89 percent
• Extended UK’s streak of 22 semesters with a 3.0 department-wide grade-point average
• 388 Wildcats on the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Rolls
• 34 Wildcats earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District, including the 12 All-Americans listed above
• All of UK’s teams surpassed the mandatory for the NCAA Academic Progress Rate and UK’s overall mark was higher than the overall national average