« Men’s Basketball 2013-14

Augustine Rubit

School
South Alabama
Position
Forward
Major
Interdisciplinary Studies
PPG
16.7
RPG
9.4
APG
1.2

Classroom

Rubit has a 2.48 GPA majoring in interdisciplinary studies and will graduate in December. He will start a second major—communications—in the spring.

Character

Implicitly trusted by the coaching staff, Rubit is quiet, unassuming and leads by example. He overcame a rough childhood, made tougher by a mother addicted to drugs and was raised by his older sister (ESPN.com profiled him in October: http://es.pn/15RJGYh) After dropping out of school in the sixth grade, he worked his way back, going to summer school and taking night classes, and used the opportunity to play basketball at the Division I level as a reward for his work. He had to sit out his freshman season due to NCAA Clearinghouse issues, but used that redshirt year to get better in the classroom and is now on track to graduate in December. In May, he was named the 2012-13 Jaguar Student-Athlete of the Year, an award given to the most-outstanding student-athlete based on scholarship, athletic ability and citizenship.

Community

Augustine has volunteered for Toys for Tots and recently participated in South Alabama’s “Spread the Roar” program, visiting a local elementary school and speaking about his studies, the importance of an education, life as a student-athlete, and achieving his goals. In November he will join the men’s basketball team in their skills clinic with a church.

Competition

The 2012-13 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, Rubit averaged 19.4 points (2nd in conference) and 10.5 rebounds (1st) last season and led the Jaguars to 17 wins and their first postseason appearance in five years. He became the first player in Sun Belt history to lead the league in rebounding three straight seasons and was one of two players in Division I to rank in the top 25 in the nation in both scoring and rebounding. He is the first USA player to earn the Sun Belt’s top individual honor since 1989 and the first at the school to earn back-to-back 1st Team honors since 2008. In just three seasons he ranks seventh at South Alabama in career points (1,390) and second in rebounding (891) and double-doubles (42). Last season he set a new school record with 198 free throws and scored the seventh-most points (582) and grabbed the third-highest rebounding total (315) in the USA record book.