courtesy of the Big 12 Conference (big12sports.com)
Thirty-eight Big 12 Conference student-athletes were named ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans during the 2009-10 academic year, more than any other Division I conference in the nation.
The Big 12 had 13 of its student-athletes earn first-team status, while 13 garnered second-team honors and 12 were named to the third team.
The Southeastern Conference was second overall to the Big 12 with 36 total student-athletes to earn either first, second or third-team mentions, while the Big Ten was third with 34 Academic All-America awards.
In addition, Kansas basketball player Cole Aldrich was named the Academic All-American of the Year in his sport.
Nebraska leads the Big 12 Conference with 277 all-time Academic All-America awards, while Texas has 119 and Oklahoma has 100. Every other Big 12 school has at least 40 first, second or third-team mentions.
The Big 12 was also a strong academic presence in other areas, as six student-athletes earned NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships.
To be eligible for ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve and maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30 on a 4.00 scale. Additionally, the student-athlete must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his or her current institution and be nominated by his or her sports information director. The College Sports Information Directors of America votes on the Academic All-America teams.
Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA named more than 15,000 student-athletes in Division I, II, III and NAIA as Academic All-Americans.