Bronco football's John Potter is Academic All-Amercan

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University senior place kicker John Potter is the fifth football student-athlete in program history to earn First Team Academic All-America.

A native of Grand Haven, Mich., Potter has a 3.93 GPA in business and finance—the highest GPA on the 2011 football team and one of the top 10 GPAs among all WMU student-athletes.

Potter is vice president of the Entrepreneurs Club on campus, an organization he founded in the spring of 2011. The organization's purpose is to connect students, spark innovation and generate ideas for ways to enhance the WMU and Kalamazoo communities.

Potter's acknowledgment marks the fifth year in a row the football team has had an Academic All-American. He is the first Bronco to earn first team honors since Anthony Gebhart in 2007. Former WMU and Grand Haven teammate Phillip Swanson was named Academic All-American in 2008 and 2010.

Bronco football Academic All-Americans
1970 Jon Bull, tackle (first team)
1973 Dan Arbour, defensive end (second team)
1981 Les Garrett, linebacker (second team)
1994 Rich Kaiser, defensive end (first team)
1995 Rich Kaiser, defensive end (first team)
1998 Mike Hutchings, wide receiver (first team)
2007 Anthony Gebhart, safety (first team)
2008 Phil Swanson, offensive guard (second team)
2009 Tim Hiller, quarterback (second team)
2010 Phillip Swanson, offensive guard (second team)
2011 John Potter, place kicker (first team)

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