While today is probably the first time school has crossed the minds of most students, first-year football players at ASU have already been talking about it for the last few weeks.
Football academic development, a mandatory program for all newcomers, started Aug. 7 at Camp Tontozona.
The program is run by ASU graduate Jean Boyd, manager of student services, who understands what it is like to be a student-athlete. Boyd twice lettered in football with the Sun Devils, before spending a year at the professional level with the New England Patriots and with a European team.
Soon after, Boyd returned to ASU with numerous ideas and became involved in academic services for student-athletes. Eventually, then-newly named athletics director Gene Smith and head football coach Dirk Koetter decided they wanted someone with a football background and academic experience to run the academic development program for football players. Boyd was their guy.
The program was invented since football players tend to be more "at-risk" to not achieve academic success than their counterparts in other sports. One of the major risks is the time commitment football players must devote to practicing and even traveling to other schools.
The program allows some intervention of possible academic disaster, which can lead to ineligibility, by teaching players about time management and by working with their professors to maintain a successful balance. It's seen as a basic orientation for first-year football players, it helps them get a better understanding of what the college experience will entail and it eases the transition from high school to the Division I level.
But it is still helpful even for players who have already seen a little bit of college.
"It's my first year at ASU, so I had to take this, but I wish I had had something like this before," said defensive tackle Matt Mason, a transfer from Glendale Community College. "It really opens your eyes to the classes, professors and school."
Each 45-minute session began with a simple overview of the importance of college. Instructors taught players classroom etiquette and went over the characteristics of good student-athletes. The program continued after camp with hour-long sessions on campus.
During one session, a professor gave a lecture that allowed players to practice taking notes. The program ended the week before school with distribution of schedules and maps to help freshmen be fully prepared for the first week of classes.
"It's been a lot of football for these guys over the past few weeks, and we want them to be able to understand that come (today), it's football and school," Boyd said.
Sessions are planned throughout the first week of school to help players organize their new material. A big part of a player's organization will be the use of the Academic Gameplan, a notebook that includes several sports concepts, which was created by a coach at Fresno State.
The notebook consists of "scouting reports" and a "lineup card," or daily and weekly calendars. There also is a "scorecard," which is used to tally all points that can be awarded and those actually received in a class so student-athletes, advisors and parents know how things are going.
"The class has been real helpful," freshman running back Randy Hill said. "It tells us what to expect in college and how to react to lectures and how teachers will react to the actions we make."
Even though the program is only in its second year, there have already been positive results. Last year's freshman class finished the year with a 2.54 grade-point average. The team's cumulative GPA was 2.55.
"That's the highest it's been in a long time," Boyd said.
The pushing of academic achievement does not end once the sessions stop. Players also are required to attend study hall. Each athlete must complete eight hours per week and must have something to show for it.
This year, Boyd implemented "objectives" that each player should strive to accomplish while in study hall. If they are not met, hourly credits are not awarded. Last year, players simply had to go to study hall, and weren't actually responsible for any work.
However, now players must take UNI 194: Student-Athlete Success. Although it sounds like UNI 101, it's quite different.
Some of the topics discussed are goal setting in the classroom, sexual responsibility, alcohol and proper dieting. The course teaches student-athletes how to carry themselves professionally and how to deal with the social pressures of being in the spotlight.
Boyd and a friend of his from a different college also created the "Scholar Baller," another way to make academic achievement more plausible for student-athletes. Any player who turns in a semester GPA or cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better will receive the prestigious honor.
Boyd said using the popular term "baller" would generate more interest among student-athletes. He felt the athletes were already very responsive to the class and he also understood that help was in their best interest.
"It's a big change from high school that people don't realize until they get here," freshman running back Loren Wade said.
With expectations high for this semester, Boyd is looking for even bigger things from this year's newcomers.
"We like to tell them that since they compete on the field, they should go ahead and compete in the classroom too," Boyd said.
Reach the reporter at katie.crane@asu.edu.
