25 UK athletes set for December Commencement

Current, former student-athletes expected to graduate following fall semester

LEXINGTON, Ky. (UK Athletics) – Twenty-five current and former Wildcat student-athletes from six UK teams are on track to graduate Friday.

The University of Kentucky’s December Commencement ceremonies will be held at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center on this schedule https://commencement.uky.edu/december-2021. Adding the 93 student-athletes who graduated in May, UK Athletics is expected to have 118 graduates during the 2021 calendar year alone.

Along with 22 student-athletes who are currently competing or recently completed eligibility, three additional Cats – all from baseball, including AJ Reed, the unanimous 2014 National Player of the Year – are expected to graduate after finishing their undergraduate work as part of UK Athletics’ Post-Eligibility program.

Through the Post-Eligibility Program, UK Athletics pays for tuition and books for scholarship student-athletes who return to school after completing their eligibility. Since its inception in 1989, more than 150 Wildcats have returned to graduate through the program.

Three football Wildcats, Luke Fortner, Zach Johnson and Clevan Thomas Jr., are completing master’s degrees.

Seven of the athletes have earned all-conference honors during their careers, including Reed, Luke Heyer (baseball), Luke Fortner (football), Garrett Wood (men’s golf), Josie Angeny (gymnastics), and Marcel Meinzer and Bailey Rouse from men’s soccer.  Reed and Heyer earned All-America distinction as well.

Below is the complete list of expected graduates:

Ben Aklinski, Baseball+

Mason Hazelwood, Baseball

Alex Degen, Baseball

Luke Heyer, Baseball+

AJ Reed, Baseball+

Tyrell Ajian, Football

Zac Berezowitz, Football

Austin Dotson, Football

Luke Fortner, Football*

Kenneth Horsey, Football

Zach Johnson, Football*

Quandre Mosely, Football

Will Nalty, Football

Justin Rigg, Football

Davonte Robinson, Football

Clevan Thomas Jr., Football*

Naasir Watkins, Football

Jordan Wright, Football

Alex Goff, Men’s Golf

Garrett Wood, Men’s Golf

Josie Angeny, Gymnastics

Marcel Meinzer, Men’s Soccer

Bailey Rouse, Men’s Soccer

Julia Grosso, Women’s Soccer

Miranda Jimenez, Women’s Soccer

+ indicates graduating as part of the Post-Eligibility Program

* indicates graduating with a masters degree

Graduation marks yet another milestone of academic success for UK student-athletes. Guided by UK Athletics’ Student-Athlete Experience Division, Wildcat student-athletes have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of better than 3.0 in 18 consecutive semesters, with grades for the fall semester set to be finalized next week. In November, UK student-athletes broke the school record for Federal Graduation Rate and tied the school record in the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate.