Zachary Barley of Baldwin Wallace Earns Capital One Academic All-American Honors

2013 Dec 4

Baldwin Wallace University football student-athlete, Zachary Barley of Hudson has been named as a 2013 Capital One Academic All-American. This is the most prestigious honor a collegiate football student-athlete can receive. Only one NCAA Division III institution had more student-athletes named to the team than BW.

To qualify to become a CAPITAL ONE Academic All-American, each student-athlete had to have a minimum 3.3 grade point average or higher, be a key starter or reserve, play in a minimum of 70 percent of his/ her teams games at the time of nomination and be a first-team CAPITAL ONE Academic All-District selection.

BW has a rich tradition of excellence in both academics and football. Overall, the University has 89 Academic All-America student-athletes since the program's inception in 1970-71 for the most of any Ohio Athletic Conference school and the second most of any small college or university in Ohio. In addition, twenty-eight (28) of the 89 selections have been in the sport of football.

"We are extremely proud of the hard work that Zachary displayed in the classroom, on the football field and in leading our younger student-athletes," said 12-year veteran Head Coach John Snell '87, who has a 77-45 career record and emphasizes academics and community service as the hallmarks of his winning program. "Zachary is a leader of a group of young men who have truly dedicated themselves to being true student-athletes."

Barley was a senior safety who carries a 3.879 grade average in psychology. The team quint-captain had 29 tackles this season despite missing two full games and parts of two others with an injury. During his career, the four-year varsity contributor and two-time Academic All-OAC student-athlete played in 29 career games, had 101 tackles, three interceptions and 14 pass breakups. In addition to being Academic All-OAC, Barley is a Dean's List student, a Jacket Scholar, a member of two academic honoraries and was a two-time CAPITAL ONE Academic All-District 7 selection.

"Zack had an excellent four-year career, including the past two years as our full-time starting safety, said Snell. "He was consistent every day. You knew that when Zack Barley was on the field that you were going to get a 110 percent effort. He also was an outstanding leader. The fact that Zack still received this award even though he missed some time with injuries only goes to show how much respect he received on and off the field."