Football | 12/3/2015 11:00:00 AM
Moon Township, Pa. – Redshirt senior offensive lineman
Nick Faraci of the
Robert Morris University football team collected a highly prestigious honor Thursday afternoon as he was named Academic All-America First Team in an announcement made by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Faraci claims an Academic All-America accolade for the second straight year with this announcement as he was selected to the Second Team in 2014. In doing so, he becomes just the third RMU student-athlete, across all sports, to be named an Academic All-American more than once.
The Division I Academic All-America football teams encompass student-athletes from both the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) levels although eight of the 10 offensive linemen selected came from FBS institutions. RMU was one of just two Northeast Conference (NEC) schools to garner an Academic All-American award in football this year.
Faraci's honor continues a recent trend for RMU football student-athletes. The Colonial football program has now collected nine Academic All-America awards in the past 12 years. In comparison, since the NEC began sponsoring football in 1996, all other league schools combined (including past football-playing members) have netted 16 such awards in the sport of football.
Faraci carried a 3.94 grade point average while obtaining his degree in nursing. His cumulative average is the second-highest among all offensive players chosen across the First and Second Teams and the best overall mark in his position group.
Faraci started all 44 games possible over the past four years after redshirting in his freshman season. His 44 career starts are tied for the most in program history and are the highest such figure by a non-specialist. The veteran was one of four permanent captains in 2015 and served as an organizer of his teammates on the line in regard to pre-snap calls. Faraci helped Robert Morris rush for 228 yards at No. 6 South Dakota State, the second-highest rushing figure the Jackrabbits have allowed in their past 16 games against FCS foes. He and his teammates also did not yield a sack in that contest, marking the first time in school history that the Colonials did not allow a sack when facing a nationally ranked team. Faraci also helped RMU's primary running back rush for 152 yards at No. 17 Youngstown State, the most rushing yards the Penguins allowed to a single FCS athlete this season. Faraci was part of a line that did not allow a sack in each of RMU's final two games of the season, marking the first time in over five years that the Colonials had gone back-to-back games without yielding a sack. He also helped RMU rush for 200+ yards in back-to-back games for the first time since 2010.
Faraci, who plans to attend medical school, shared a spot on the Academic All-America First Team with starters from Baylor, Ohio State and Oklahoma.
In November, Faraci became only the third Robert Morris student-athlete, across all sports, to be named Academic All-District First Team on three occasions.
With Faraci's selection, the RMU Department of Athletics has now had at least one Academic All-American in each of the past six academic years, extending the longest such stretch in school history.
