THE FLATS – Georgia Tech long snapper Henry Freer (College Park, Ga./Woodward Academy) and punter David Shanahan (Castleisland, Co. Kerry, Ireland/St. Patrick’s Secondary School) were both named to the College Sports Communicators’ 2024 academic all-district football team, CSC announced on Tuesday.
To receive academic all-district recognition, a football student-athlete must have at least a cumulative 3.50 grade point average as both an undergraduate and graduate student (if applicable) while competing in at least 90% or starting 66% of his team’s games for the season.
Freer, Georgia Tech’s long snapper for the last three seasons, and Shanahan, the Yellow Jackets’ four-year punter, earned academic all-district honors for the second-straight year.
The first active football student-athlete to ever be enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech, Freer is in his second year in the Institute’s doctoral program in chemical and biomolecular engineering, after earning a bachelor’s degree in the same major in 2023 (Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering program is ranked No. 3 nationally). In addition to being a two-time academic all-district honoree, Freer was Tech’s representative in the 2024 Go Bowling Military Bowl STEM scholar-athlete program and is a two-time member of the all-Atlantic Coast Conference academic team.
Shanahan, who averaged 43.2 yards per punt in 2024 (good for 35th nationally) and finished his collegiate career ranked second in Georgia Tech history in punts (228) and punting yards (9,751) and third in punting average (42.8), is in his first year in Tech’s prestigious master’s program in analytics. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2024 and is a three-time all-ACC academic team selection.
In addition to being named academic all-district, Freer is in a select group of all-district honorees that have advanced to the academic all-America ballot in recognition of their elite performance on the field and in the classroom.
Freer and Shanahan helped lead Georgia Tech to back-to-back winning records, fourth-place ACC finishes and bowl appearances in 2023 and 2024, which marked the Yellow Jackets’ most successful consecutive seasons in a decade.
Georgia Tech opens its highly anticipated 2025 season on Aug. 30 at Colorado. 2025 Georgia Tech season tickets are on sale now, with the renewal deadline for 2024 season-ticket members to secure their seats set for Monday, Jan. 20. For more information and to purchase or renew season tickets, visit ramblinwreck.com/footballtickets.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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