Rhode Island's DePina-Gray Honored As 2025 CAA Football Scholar-Athlete Of The Year
Rob Washburn
RICHMOND, Va. (March 26, 2026) – Rhode Island senior defensive back
Andre DePina-Gray was chosen as the 2025 CAA Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year by a vote of the conference’s athletics directors.
DePina-Gray is the first Rhode Island student-athlete to receive the prestigious award.
DePina-Gray achieved a 3.92 grade point average while completing his Bachelor of Arts degree in sports media and communications. He has been a member of the CAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll in eight semesters and made the Dean’s List six times. In 2024, DePina-Gray received the A.A. Savastano Scholar-Athlete Award, which is the highest academic award within the URI football program. He also earned Distinguished Scholar-Athlete recognition at the Rhode Island State House.
As part of his coursework, DePina-Gray completed internships with the URI Athletic Media Relations office and the URI Athletics Academic Advising office. He was able to get hands-on experience helping keep statistics and formulating game notes for the media relations department, while tutoring fellow student-athletes and monitoring study halls for the academic advising department.
On the field, DePina-Gray has been a three-year letterman and two-year starter for the Rams at defensive back. During the 2025 season, he recorded 55 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss while also contributing an interception, pass breakup and fumble recovery. DePina-Gray earned honorable mention on the All-CAA team and was named as a fifth-team all-conference honoree by Phil Steele. Rhode Island has claimed back-to-back CAA regular-season titles and advanced to the second round of the NCAA FCS playoffs for the past two years.
Nominees for the CAA Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year must have senior standing academically with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0. In honor of his achievement, DePina-Gray will receive a $1,000 scholarship to be used for future educational expenses. He plans to pursue a master’s degree in communication studies at URI.