Mercer Football Places 46 Athletes on PFL Honor Roll

MACON, Ga. (MERCER RELEASE) – Just over two months after the Mercer football team set the NCAA record for wins by a first-year program, the Pioneer Football League released its annual Academic Honor Roll and 46 Bears were named to the list.

Pioneer Football League athletic directors and coaches established the honor roll as a way to recognize the league’s outstanding student-athletes. The academic honor roll consists of student-athletes who participated in football at member institutions during the fall semester and posted a 3.0 grade-point average or higher during the semester while enrolled full-time in accordance with NCAA rules.

The PFL set a new conference record with 590 student-athletes named to the honor roll as the conference expanded to 12 teams for the 2013 season. It is the seventh consecutive year the league has seen an increase in the total number of students recognized on its annual academic honor roll.

Mercer is coming off a season for the history books, winning 10 games and setting the NCAA record for victories by a start-up program. Quarterback John Russ finished fifth in the country in voting for the Jerry Rice Award as the top freshman in the country, while Lamb was named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award as the nation’s top FCS coach and signed a contract extension to keep him as the leader of the Bears through the 2019 season.

Mercer will sign the program’s first scholarship recruiting class in February 2014, before transitioning to the Southern Conference next fall.

46 MERCER STUDENT-ATHLETES FEATURED ON PFL ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL

John Garrett Abernathy, Fr., Undeclared
Sam Arrington, Fr., Undeclared
Tunde Ayinla, Fr., Undeclared
Caleb Brown, Fr., Psychology
Robert Brown, Fr., Sports Business Management
Sytavious Brown, Fr., Undeclared
Duronte Carter, Fr., Undeclared
Diron Chloe, Fr., Undeclared
Austin Daniel, Fr., Undeclared
Devin Davidson, Fr., Undeclared
JeTarii Donald, Fr., Undeclared
Ben East, Fr., Undeclared
Rob East, Fr., Undeclared
Mike Gray, Fr., Sports Business Management
Keelan Gregg, Fr., Undeclared
Adam Hackney, Fr., Undeclared
Michael Haynes, Fr., Undeclared
Adrian Humphrey, Fr., Undeclared
Cody Jones, So., Marketing
Caleb King, Fr., Sports Business Management
CJ Kleckley, Fr., Industrial Engineering
Alex Lakes, Fr., Undeclared
Jack Lightsey, Fr., Undeclared
Jordan Liles, Fr., Undeclared
Corey Lockett, Fr., Undeclared
Hunter Mackay, Fr., Sports Business Management
Colin Mitchell, Fr., Undeclared
Josh Moore, Fr., Undeclared
Andy Nichols, Fr., Undeclared
JT Palmer, So., Law and Public Policy
Anthony Perella, Fr., Undeclared
Preston Pittman, Fr., Undeclared
Dalton Ponchillia, Fr., Middle Level Education
Michael Rainwater, Fr., Industrial Management
David Ricard, Fr., Undeclared
John Russ, Fr., Undeclared
Garrett Smith, Fr., Undeclared
Kirby Southard, Fr., Undeclared
Brett Steverson, Fr., Undeclared
John Tipton, Fr., Undeclared
Payton Usher, Fr., Undeclared
Michael Valero, Fr., Undeclared
Michael Wagner, Fr., Undeclared
Tyler Ward, Fr., Sports Business Management
Hal Weaver, Fr., Undeclared
Avery White, Fr., History