UToledo senior forward JT Shumate has been named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Men’s Basketball First Team.
Shumate is the first Rocket men’s basketball player to ever earn first Academic All-American in back-to-back seasons and just the third Rocket ever in any sport. Dana Drew (women’s basketball) and Kate Bean (women’s volleyball) were the previous student-athletes to do so in 1994 and 1995 and 2005 and 2006, respectively.
Shumate has a 3.84 grade point average in middle childhood education and is one of six student-athletes in the nation to be selected to the first-team squad.
Shumate has earned first-team NABC All-District and All-Mid-American Conference honors this season. He is tied for second on the team with 16.0 ppg and leads the Rockets with 1.2 bpg and an 87.4 free-throw percentage.
Shumate ranks first in program history in career marks with a 43.5 three-point FG% and an 84.4 FT%. He also ranks fourth all-time with a 55.5 FG% and fifth with 114 blocked shots.
To be eligible for Academic All-America, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his current institution and be nominated by their respective sports information director.
Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 15,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.
For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, visit www.cosida.com.
