Baylor QB named first-team Academic All-American

Given that he graduated early with a degree in economics and leads the nation in total offense, it should be no surprise that Baylor’s Nick Florence was named the first-team quarterback on the 2012 CoSIDA Academic All-America football team.

Florence is the seventh Bear in the last eight years to make the Academic All-America football team, joining Daniel Sepulveda (2005, 2006), Joe Pawelek (2008, 2009), Derek Epperson (2010) and Robert Griffin III (2011).

The Garland, Texas, native graduated high school a semester early, then earned his degree in economics from Baylor (with a 3.79 GPA) in just three and a half years. He is currently working on his MBA in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business.

On the field, Florence leads all individuals in total offense (averaging 387.7 yards per game) and needs just 174 more yards to break RG3’s school record for passing yards in a season, set last fall. In fact, Florence’s numbers this season and Griffin’s from a year ago are remarkably similar through 12 games:

RG3 2011: 3998 pass yds (36 TD), 644 rush yds (9 TD), 4642 total yds (45 total TD)
NF1 2012: 4121 pass yds (31 TD), 531 rush yds (9 TD), 4652 total yds (40 total TD)

You’ve got one more chance to see Florence perform in a Baylor uniform: Thursday, Dec. 27, in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl vs. UCLA. Get your tickets now; hope to see you in San Diego!

Sic ’em, Nick!