RICHMOND, Va.—Both of the Villanova sports which compete in the CAA have been named winners of Team Academic Excellence Awards for the 2024-25 academic year. The conference announced the winners from each of 22 sports sponsored by the CAA on Thursday afternoon and the Wildcats were represented by football and rowing who each achieved this distinction for the fifth time in the nine years that the award has been presented.
 
The Team Academic Excellence Award recognizes the institution with the highest collective grade point average in all 22 sports sponsored by the CAA. The team GPA is a calculation of the grade point average of each student-athlete who appeared on an institution's roster throughout the final day of their respective championship seasons during the 2024-25 academic year. Despite only competing in the CAA in football and rowing, Villanova is one of 10 conference schools to have multiple teams earn a Team Academic Excellence Award this year.
 
Football wins the Team Academic Excellence Award for the fifth time, including the third straight year. It was another successful year for the Wildcats both in the classroom and on the gridiron as Villanova earned numerous academic awards even while advancing to the second round of the FCS playoffs and tallying its third season with 10 or more victories in the last four years.
 
Fifth year linebacker Brendan Bell was named the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Performer of the Year in 2024-25 and was one of four Wildcats to appear on the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Football Team. He was joined by fellow linebacker Shane Hartzell along with safety Ty Trinh and quarterback Connor Watkins. The trio of Bell, Watkins and Ethan Potter were named to the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, while Gilbert Deglau and Chris Dobrydney each had perfect 4.0 GPAs for the Fall 2024 semester while the team was in season.
 
Villanova is one of just six FCS programs to have won 10 or more games in at least three of the past four seasons. First year running back David Avit was named the CAA Football Offensive Rookie of the Year and was a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award presented to the top first year player in FCS Football. He additionally appeared on the CAA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll for both the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semesters. Avit was one of nine Wildcats who earned CAA Football All-Conference honors, with the quartet of Bell, Hartzell, cornerback Isas Waxter and offensive lineman Jake Picard each named to the first team.
 
Rowing is a five-time winner of the Team Academic Excellence Award and earns the honor for the first time since 2021-22. Academic honors have been pouring in for the Wildcats since the end of the 2024-25 academic year, most recently with seven student-athletes being named CRCA Scholar-Athletes. Among them were senior Gianna Zajac who earned a spot on the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Team and junior Maggie Coyne who was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District squad for at-large sports.
 
It was also a successful year on the water for Villanova, which tallied its highest team point total (29) at the CAA Championship since joining the conference in 2016. The senior duo of Zajac and Grace Quirk, along with Coyne, were named to the All-CAA team. In addition, the Wildcats 2V8 boat earned a bronze medal and scored 12 team points in the Grand Finals.
 
Additional academic honors will be announced by the CAA on Friday afternoon when it reveals its full Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll for the Spring 2025 semester.