Kariya Earns Academic All-America Accolades

PROVO -- BYU junior running back Bryan Kariya was named to the ESPN Academic All-America Second Team on Tuesday.

The honor is the first Academic All-America award for the junior, who is also a two-time Academic All-Mountain West Conference recipient and MWC Scholar-Athlete. He is the only running back from a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school to earn Academic All-America recognition in 2010. A Chinese major with a 3.87 GPA, Kariya was one of four running backs named to the first and second teams.

The junior from Kaysville, Utah, is second on the team with 483 rushing yards through 11 games for a 43.9 yards-per-game average. Kariya has come on strong in conference play, averaging 66.2 ypg while helping BYU earn a 5-2 MWC record.

Kariya has started eight games on the year and had a career-high 88-yard rushing performance against Wyoming. He has recorded five touchdowns, including two against San Diego State. Kariya has also caught a pass in every game but one this season.

With his selection, six Cougars in the last three years have been named Academic All-Americans, the second-most behind Penn State among all FBS schools during that period. BYU has earned the majority of the MWC's 10 Academic All-America awards in the last three years. After BYU's six awards, the MWC has totaled four others--two by Utah, one by TCU and one by New Mexico.

Overall, the BYU football program has earned 35 Academic All-America citations since 1965.