The Rutgers football, women's lacrosse and women's golf teams were among the NCAA Division I programs lauded Wednesday by the college athletics governing body for Academic Progress Reports (APR) in the top 10 percent of all teams in their specific sport.

The Scarlet Knights football team has earned the national recognition in eight consecutive years, which marks the longest continuous streak for any top-level state university in the country.

Rutgers is one of 14 Division 1 FBS programs and among five Big Ten schools on the list, which includes Air Force, Army, Boise State, Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, Stanford, Utah State, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin.

"For the eighth straight year Rutgers football has ranked in the top 10 percent nationally in APR scores and that is a tremendous honor for this program,'' said Rutgers football coach Kyle Flood, whose program placed 27 students on the Big Ten All-Academic Team, the fourth-most among the conference teams. "This is an accomplishment that the entire program takes pride in. Our students work extremely hard to meet the high academic standards that have been set. Our continued academic success is a credit to the dedicated work of Jenna Beverly, Bill Bailey, Ramel Meekins and the entire academic support staff.''



Every NCAA Division I institution calculates an APR for each athletics team each academic year. The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester or quarter by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention, and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.

"It is a great tribute for the men, women and teams to be recognized by the NCAA for their academic performance,'' said Scott Walker, director of academic support services at Rutgers. "To be ranked among the top 10 percent in APR is a testament to the commitment of our students and shows the hard work they put forth.''

The Rutgers women's lacrosse team earned an APR public recognition award for the fourth straight year.

"We continue to be proud of our strong academic tradition,'' said women's lacrosse coach Laura Brand-Sias. "I'm constantly impressed with the work ethic of our players and staff to maintain our progress in the classroom. This is a true testament to all of their hard work.''



The Rutgers women's golf team was recognized for the third straight year.



"We are committed to providing a first class experience for our students,'' said women's golf coach Kari Williams. "We are dedicated to success in the classroom, as well as on the course.''

The scores required to be in the top ten ranged from 980 to a perfect 1,000, depending on the sport.

The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2010-11, 2011-2012, 2012-13 and 2013-14 academic years.

"We are so proud of our students for what they have accomplished,'' Rutgers athletics director Julie Hermann said. "Graduating our students is our top priority.''

Rutgers' 2013-14 APR results:

Scarlet Knights football receives national recognition for academic success

The NCAA will release multiyear APR statistics for all intercollegiate athletics programs involved in NCAA Division I competition on May 27.

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.