Nov. 16, 2017
Frank Ginda of San Jose State University, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) leader in total tackles, tackles per game and solo tackles this season is one of four linebackers from NCAA Division I programs to be named to the 2017 Academic All-District 8 Football Team in a vote by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) members.
Ginda, a junior from Los Banos, Calif., now is one of 27 NCAA Division I linebackers eligible for CoSIDA Academic All-America first and second team honors in an upcoming vote by selected CoSIDA members nationally.
The Academic All-America program honors student-athletes for combined excellence on the field and in the classroom. To be nominated, a student-athlete must have at least two semesters of residency and be of sophomore standing, possess a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30 or higher, and participate in at least 50 percent of a team's contests.
Ginda has a 3.43 grade-point average and is majoring in communication studies. A graduate of Pacheco High School in Los Banos, he is the first student-athlete at the school to earn an athletically-based scholarship.
Heading into San Jose State's November 18 game at Colorado State, Ginda has 152 tackles, 82 of them solo stops. He is averaging 13.8 tackles per game. Ginda shares the team lead in the tackles for loss category at 10.5 and is the team leader with two forced fumbles.
With two games remaining this season, the three-year starter is on the verge of one of the most active seasons by a FBS defensive player. He is 10 tackles away from tying the Mountain West single-season record of 162 tackles by Carmen Messina of New Mexico State in 2009 and 12 stops from one of the top-20 single-season totals by a NCAA Division I FBS player.
His current single-season average of 13.81 tackles per game would rank 13th by NCAA Division I FBS defenders since the NCAA standardized defensive statistics in 2000.
Ginda's honor marks the third consecutive season a San Jose State football player is a CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 honor. In 2015 and 2016, wide receiver Tim Crawley was a Academic All-District 8 award winner.