There have been plenty of different competitions inside the UConn football locker room. Showdowns to figure out who could run the fastest, jump the highest or lift the most weight.

Defensive tackle Sean Marinan and punter Justin Wain came up with a different set of challenges. The two special teams stalwarts were good enough students to have headed to Ivy League colleges had they so desired so it seemed only natural that they were compete with each other in the quest to get a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.

UConn held its annual ceremony honoring the best and brightest student-athletes at halftime of the women's basketball game against Southern Methodist. While all the athletes who had a 3.0 GPA in either the fall or spring semesters in 2015 were included in a parade of athletes. However, the star attractions were the 19 student-athletes recognized for at least one semester with a 4.0 GPA. This is the second straight year that Marinan and Wain were among those honored for getting a 4.0 GPA.

"We had an award (at Xavier High School), the Brother Celestine Award and you could be an A or A-minus (student) but I was always a B-plus short every year and I never got it," Marinan said.

"When I first came in, I had that one B and I finally got to the 4.0s and it was a great feeling. It shows that the hard work pays off especially with Justin we had a little bit of a competition. It was nice because we both started getting them at the same time, just kept going, going and going and it definitely has been helping."

Kicker Andrew Paluch joined Marinan and Wain as members of the 2015 football team with at least one semester with a 4.0 GPA.

Here is a list of the other 4.0 student-athletes
Men's Cross Country: Michael McGonnigle, Kyler Osborne, Seth Zuidema
Women's Cross Country/Track: Terra Briody, Lily D'Agostino, Emily Howard, Emese Kanyo, Kelly Myers, Ericka Randazzo
Women's Hockey: Annie Belanger
Women's Lacrosse: Alexandria Crofts, Karaline Smith
Women's Rowing: Arielle Sherman-Golembeski, Kathryn Stevens
Women's Soccer: Emily Armstrong
Women's Tennis: Shea Flanagan

A total of 37 football players were recognized for having at least one semester with a 3.0 GPA including 2015 team captains Andrew Adams, Andreas Knappe and Marquise Vann as well as returning starters Luke Carrezola, Folorunso Fatukasi, Tommy Hopkins, Knappe, Obi Melifonwu, Bobby Puyol, Bryant Shirreffs and Brendan Vechery.

Here's the complete list
Andrew Adams
Frank Battle
Brandon Bisack
JJ Bivona
Kyle Bockeloh
John Luke Bogue
Luke Carrezola
Jeremy Claflin
Tyler Davis
Folorunso Fatukasi
Aaron Garland
Steve Hashemi
Tommy Hopkins
Andreas Knappe
Chris Lee
Nicholas Lensander
E.J. Levenberry
Dom Manco
Ellis Marder
Josh Marriner
Aaron McLean
Obi Melifonwu
Daniel Oak
Andrew Paluch
Bobby Puyol
Will Rishell
Kyle Schafenacker
Bryant Shirreffs
Tom Tabur
Jason Thompson
Tony Tully
Marquise Vann
Brendan Vechery
Justin Wain
Richmond Williams
Tahj-Anthony Wilson