Bucknell University Athletics
Three Bison Named to Academic All-District Football Team
11/10/2005 7:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 10, 2005
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Three members of the Bucknell football team were named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Team on Thursday. Junior offensive lineman Michael Boccella (Dunmore, Pa./Dunmore), senior kicker Ryan Bower (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville Area) and junior defensive back David Frisbey (Newark, Del./Charter School) were all first-team all-district selections and will now advance to the national Academic All-America ballot.
Boccella started the first eight games of the season for the Bison before missing last week's contest against Fordham with an injury. He has played both right guard and right tackle on a team leads Patriot League in rushing offense at 184.2 yards per game.
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Boccella, an American history major with an education minor, carries a 3.66 cumulative grade-point average. An Eagle Scout, he was inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta national honor society and Phi Alpha Theta national history honor society at Bucknell. Boccella volunteered at Bucknell's "Multicultural Explosion," an event designed to promote multicultural awareness, and he is organizing an event in which Bucknell student-athletes will read to local elementary school children.
Bower has been Bucknell's kickoff specialist since his freshman season, although he has been slowed by injury since tearing an anterior cruciate ligament midway through the 2004 season. Bower is one of Bucknell's most accomplished student-athletes in the classroom and in the community.
He is an electrical engineering major with a physics minor, and he has an outstanding 3.88 cumulative GPA. Bower has been a member of the Dean's List every semester at Bucknell. He is president of the Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society as well as a member of Mortar Board, Tau Beta Kappa engineering honor society and Sigma Pi Sigma physics honor society. In addition, he is a Catholic Campus Ministry mentor and the Fundraising & Solicitations Chair for Habitat for Humanity. Bower has interned with GE Transportation Systems, working with hybrid locomotive, and with L-3 Communications, studying the assembly of Traveling Wave Tubes.
Frisbey is a first-year starter at cornerback and has been one of Bucknell's top defensive players this season. He ranks fifth on the team with 48 tackles (32 solo) and he is tied for the team lead with seven pass breakups. Frisbey has two interceptions and three tackles for loss. He had a career-high 13 tackles in Bucknell's 27-7 victory over Marist on Oct. 1.
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Off the field, Frisbey is majoring in management (finance) with a minor in Spanish, and he carries a 3.54 GPA. Frisbey, who will earn third varsity letter this season, has volunteered with Greater Newark Boys & Girls Club in his hometown.
Bucknell (1-8) has two games remaining on its 2005 schedule, this week at Colgate and Nov. 19 at home against Holy Cross.
In order to be eligible for Academic All-America honors, a student-athlete must carry a minimum 3.20 GPA and be a starter or key reserve on his/her team.
Bucknell has had 110 Academic All-Americans since 1970, third-most in the nation among Division I programs, behind only Nebraska and Notre Dame.
The Bucknell football program has now claimed 35 all-district honorees since 1981, and it has had at least one in each of the six seasons.
