NW Missouri St. unveils innovative academic helmet decals

Adding items to a player's helmet to recognize his good work is nothing new; just look at Ohio State's buckeye leaf stickers or Florida State's tomahawks as famous examples.

But Northwest Missouri State went a different route with its helmet stickers. Rather than adding something to a player's helmet for a good pass breakup or solid leadership in practice, the Bearcats are rewarding players for exceptional work in the classroom.

@NWBearcatsFB Student-Athletes with a 3.0+ GPA will wear decals this season that showcase their Advisor, GPA & Major pic.twitter.com/0fOg4Bmyj5

— Northwest Equipment (@BearcatEQ) September 1, 2016

As you can see from the tweet above, a player who attains a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher gets a personalized helmet decal added that lists the name of his adviser, his GPA and his major.

This is definitely a really cool way to recognize student-athletes for the things they can accomplish away from the field. And including the name of the adviser is a nice touch, because any student-athlete with a hectic schedule will tell you it can't be done without them.

Nice work here, Bearcats, and hopefully there are tons of these stickers popping up on their helmets throughout the coming seasons.