It's been said before that you are often known by the company you keep.

We learned recently that, when it comes to the academic performance of our football team, the NCAA says we are in a very small and exclusive club of quality universities.

The Blue Raiders were one of just 12 FBS football programs honored by the NCAA's Public Recognition Awards for student-athlete academic progress. The honorees: Air Force, Boise State, Clemson, Duke, Miami of Florida, MTSU, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rice, Rutgers and Vanderbilt.

Blue Raider football and men’s golf were recognized June 14 by the awards, which are based on the teams’ most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rates, or APR. This marks the second straight year both MTSU programs have been honored by the NCAA.

The awards are given each year to teams with APRs in the top 10 percent in each sport. The Blue Raiders join Florida Atlantic as the only Sun Belt programs to have more than one sport honored. And this comes just after we were awarded our eighth Vic Bubas Cup, our fourth in a row, for the best team in all sports inside the Sun Belt this season.

I am proud that our athletics programs strive for excellence on the playing field and in the classroom. My thanks to Athletics Director Chris Massaro and all of our coaches for their leadership, as well as the hard work and strong results put forward by our student-athletes.