LSU's 51 Student-Athlete Graduates Honored for Academic Excellence in Annual "Tribute" Ceremony

For 51 former LSU athletes, Thursday evening kicked off a weekend of celebration as the school honored their academic excellence at the annual "Tribute" ceremony. The athletes will officially graduate from the university on Friday with Thursday's ceremony being used as a way to thank all of the student-athletes for their dedication to the school.

In a press release from the university, a number of high-ranking members of the athletic department took time to thank the athletes for their contributions.

“You are all part of the most unique stole ceremony in the history of LSU Athletics,” LSU athletic director Scott Woodward said. “All of you have overcome obstacles, some greater than others. But all of you now have a common challenge, one that we all share. It may not seem fair to graduate during a global pandemic, because it isn’t. There is nothing fair or normal about this. But it is an opportunity – an opportunity to be at the leading edge of the next phase in all of our lives across the globe. "

A number of former LSU football players returned for their degrees including Cole Tracy, Travin Dural and Christian LaCouture, who's currently serving the LSU coaching staff as a graduate assistant.

Current student-athletes of note were Donavaughn Campbell for football, Skylar Mays and Marshall Graves for men's basketball, Eric Walker, Matthew Beck and Aaron George for baseball, Kennedi Edney, Ashlyn Kirby and Ruby Harrold for gymnastics and Ayana Mitchell in women's basketball.

Mays, a two time Academic All-American in his four years with the Tigers, addressed the graduating class directly to close out the ceremony.

"Look forward to reaping the blessings of your accomplishments, look forward to your degree and connections working for you, chase your dreams and follow the path ahead of you," Mays said. "Look forward to passing the torch to the next set of athletes to wear the purple and gold and proudly display those three letters across their chest. Look forward to coming back and as an alumnus and watching the next generation of Tigers accomplish big things and know that this is part of the ground work that we laid.

A Tiger through and through@skylarmays4 spoke at The Tribute, honoring all the LSU student-athletes that are graduating#ForeverLSU pic.twitter.com/Nym99vJ861
— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) May 15, 2020

"This journey has made us better people and we are fully prepared for the next step.”

Here's a complete list of the students who were honored Thursday evening:

College of The Coast & Environment (1)

Will Arthur, Swimming & Diving, Coastal Environmental Science

College of Engineering (3)

Nicole Rozier, Swimming & Diving, Chemical Engineering

Sven Saemundsson, Swimming & Diving, Chemical Engineering

Michael Smith, Football, Electrical Engineering

E.J. Ourso College of Business (14)

Matthew Beck, Baseball, Finance

Raigen Cianciulli, Volleyball, Finance

Claire Coppola, Beach Volleyball, Master of Business Administration

Lindsey Eaton, Soccer, Marketing

Lindsay Flory, Volleyball, Master of Business Administration

Drew Gonzales, Men's Golf, Finance

Marshall Graves, Men's Basketball, General Business

Ruy Teixeira, Men's Tennis, General Business

Annie Jung, Track & Field, General Business

Ashlyn Kirby, Gymnastics, Accounting

Taryn Kloth, Beach Volleyball, Master of Business Administration

Karl Luht, Swimming & Diving, Finance

Eric Walker, Baseball, Finance

Jack Wilkes, Track & Field, Master of Business Administration

College of Human Sciences & Education (20)

LaToya Ashman, Women's Basketball, Sports Administration

Caitie Cantrill, Soccer, Kinesiology

Monica Dibildox, Women's Golf, Sports Administration

Mia Dubroc, Soccer, Kinesiology

Kennedi Edney, Gymnastics, Sports Administration

Aaron George, Baseball, Sports Administration

Andre Girouard, Track & Field, Kinesiology

Ruby Harrold, Gymnastics, Kinesiology

Hunter Kiel, Baseball, Sports Administration

Skylar Mays, Men's Basketball, Kinesiology

Christian Miller, Track & Field, Sports Administration

Sydney Mukes, Volleyball, Leadership & Human Resource Development

Olivia Powers, Beach Volleyball, Sports Administration

Jakori Savage, Football, Sports Administration

Allyson Seals, Track & Field, Kinesiology

Rakell Spencer, Women's Basketball, Sports Administration

Courtney Tapocik, Track & Field, Sports Administration

Jariel Tureaud, Volleyball, Sports Administration

Kahlee York, Beach Volleyball, Kinesiology

Anna Zwiebel, Volleyball, Kinesiology

College of Humanities & Social Sciences (11)

Da'Quan Bellard, Track & Field, Interdisciplinary Studies

Donavaughn Campbell, Football, Interdisciplinary Studies

Travin Dural, Football, Interdisciplinary Studies

Christian LaCouture, Football, Master of Arts In Liberal Arts

Tonea Marshall, Track & Field, Sociology

Lauren McIntosh, Swimming & Diving, Psychology

Ayana Mitchell, Women's Basketball, Interdisciplinary Studies

Richard Thompson, Track & Field, Sociology

Cole Tracy, Football, Master of Arts In Liberal Arts

Ellie Weber, Soccer, Communication Disorders

Amelie Whitehurst, Track & Field, History

Manship School of Mass Communication (1)

Lizzie Cui, Swimming & Diving, Mass Communication