Clegg Named College Sports Communicators Academic All-American Of The Year

STARKVILLE – For the third consecutive year, Mississippi State’s Ford Clegg has been selected to the College Sports Communicators At-Large Academic All-America Team. Additionally, in his final year of athletic eligibility, Clegg has been tabbed as the organization’s At-Large Academic All-American of the Year.
 
In each of the last two years, Clegg was the only Division I men’s golfer in the nation to named a First Team Academic All-American. This year, he is one of four and the only member from the SEC. He is the only three-time winner on this year’s first team and one of just three repeat winners from a year ago.
 
“What an incredible accomplishment it is to be named Academic All-American of the Year,” head coach Dusty Smith said. “Ford has proved what is possible being a student-athlete at Mississippi State University. It takes a special type of person to accomplish what he has in our sport of golf and also in the classroom. I know he will go down as one of the great student-athletes in Mississippi State history. I am thankful I had the opportunity to coach Ford, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
 
Clegg won the NCAA Elite 90 Award this spring as the golfer with the highest career GPA at the NCAA Championships. The graduate student from Birmingham, Alabama, is pursuing an MBA after completing his undergraduate degree in finance in May 2022. He graduated summa cum laude and has maintained a career 4.0 GPA in both his undergraduate and graduate studies.
 
The Southeastern Conference’s men’s golf coaches have voted Clegg the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year three years in a row, making him just the second golfer in the conference’s history to win the award three times.
 
“This means a lot to me and to Mississippi State University,” Clegg said. “I have put many hours into being good at both golf and my academics to be well-rounded leaving college. We are all here to play at the highest level, but we are still students. Being able to excel in both has better prepared me to enter the real world, whether I have a successful career in professional golf or in the business world. Whatever path I may take, I know that MSU has done a great job in preparing me for the future.”
 
On the course, Clegg has been one of the Bulldogs’ statistical leaders in each season of his career. This year he helped MSU win its first…