Christian Ponder had already won over crowds perhaps more difficult to impress than any that fill the massive stadiums he regularly plays in. He has displayed leadership skills that have impressed the most cynical classroom peers, earning his undergraduate degree in finance in two-and-a-half years and completing his MBA this past spring while maintaining a 3.7 grade point average. As he continues to wow the academic world while pursuing a second post-graduate degree, Ponder is set to do the same to football fans from coast-to-coast, positioning himself to contend for the 2010 Heisman Trophy.

Nobody in college football is any better at the numbers game than the academic star who has passed every exam – on and off the field – with pinpoint accuracy. It does not take a math major to calculate his place among the nation’s best players.

Ponder started all 13 games during a 9-4 campaign as a sophomore in 2008. He made the first nine starts last season before injuring his throwing shoulder making a tackle against Clemson. At the time of his injury, he ranked among the nation’s top quarterbacks in virtually every statistical category and still ended up leading the ACC in total offense at 321.8 yards per game; the sixth-best season in league history. Completing nearly 70 percent (68.8) of his pass attempts, Ponder was well on his way to a 3,000-yard passing season (2,717 yds.) before suffering the season-ending injury.

Along the way he directed the Seminoles to three, come-from-behind victories in the fourth quarter (North Carolina, NC State and Jacksonville State), leading an exceptionally young unit that was still adapting to a new offensive season.

Standing tall in the classroom, community and the huddle, Ponder epitomizes the term student-athlete. By accepting the responsibility of being the face of not only the Florida State football program, but the athletics department and the university, he is prepared to lead first-year coach Jimbo Fisher’s Seminoles back into ACC and national championship contention.

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