HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Earlier this summer, Slade Wilks picked up All-America honors for his play in the field. Those honors have now been extended to his accomplishments in the classroom as the Golden Eagle today also earned first-team 2024 Academic All-America® as selected by College Sports Communicators.
Wilks paced the Golden Eagles offense this past spring with a .336 average to go along with a team-high tying 20 doubles, a triple, as well as 14 home runs and 69 RBI, both team bests. He finished his career with a 36-game hitting streak, which ranks No. 2 in the school’s history.
The Columbia, Miss., native also collected a 3.571 grade point average in business administration.
This is the second time Wilks has earned this Academic All-American honor, earning third team accolades a year ago. He is the first Southern Miss player to earn this award in back-to-back years since Nick Sandlin (2017-18) and the first Golden Eagle to earn first-team honors since Sandlin did it during his 2018 season.
He now becomes the eighth Golden Eagle to earn first team honors, with the others including Mark Carson (1991), Derek Reams (1994-95), Jeremy Schied (1998), Patrick Ezell (2007), Trey Sutton (2007), Marc Bourgeois (2011) and Sandlin (2018).
Wilks also earned third-team All-America for his play this spring by both the ABCA/Rawlings and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
