East Carolina infielder Carter Cunningham has been selected the 2024 American Athletic Conference Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year according to an announcement by the league Wednesday morning. He is the third Pirate to garner the award since its inception, joining previous winners Jake Agnos (2018-19) and Alec Burleson (2019-20).
Cunningham, who was tabbed to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® First Team last week, earned his MBA back in May and finished his career with a 3.875 cumulative GPA.
Cunningham also established the ‘Homers that Help’ initiative, raising money for Maynard’s Children Hospital for every home run that he and his teammates hit during the course of the season through participating sponsors.
The American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist led the Pirates in several categories, including batting average (.367), runs scored (77), hits (92) and home runs (17) while slotting 12th nationally in runs scored and 19th in hits. He was also one of three East Carolina players to start all 63 games this campaign. Cunningham was tabbed the AAC Player of the Week twice (Feb. 26 and April 29).
Selections for the 23 Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, as well as the Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, are made by the Academic Committee based on academic credentials and athletic performance. Each conference school may nominate one student-athlete per sport who has achieved senior academic standing as determined by the institution. A winner is chosen from each of the conference’s 21 sponsored sports in addition to at-large selections from sports not sponsored by the conference.
BYU’s training camp is just over two weeks away. College football’s return is right around the corner. Rosters are complete and in tact (barring rare late additions or surprise transfers/non-enrollees) and coaches are working on their final tweaks of their playbooks. It’s almost time for another year of college football.
Today I am taking a look at the defensive side of the ball for BYU, and assess the readiness of each position group. I will rank the position groups based how equipped and effective I believe they will be throughout the season. These power rankings are based on what is known and believed today. As training camp and the season progress, there will be injuries, surprise stars, and disappointing developments that could shape these rankings going forward. But today, this is how I see things shaking out.
As it is with every July, there are rumors surfacing about the health of players throughout the roster. Mitch Harper reported that Ben Bywater’s health is anything but certain, and Jay Drew has reported that Siale Esera is trending towards a Week 1 return. That’s a heavy dose of bad news for BYU on the Bywater front, but a happy surprise about Esera. Even with the status of those two up in the air, the linebacker unit is loaded with talent. Harrison Taggart is back for his sophomore season and Ace Kaufusi is positioned to push for a spot with the starting unit. Jack Kelly is one of the most electric athletes on the team. BYU listed Aisea Moa as a 235-pound linebacker this year, a transition from the defensive end unit. Choe Bryant-Strother, Naki Tuakoi, and Sefo Akuila are set to join the roster this year too.
