2020 Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia Final Standings: 2nd Place – University of Montevallo

SAN ANTONIO, TX (6/16/2020) – The second-place team in the Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia to end the 2019-2020 season is the University of Montevallo.  This is the team’s highest School of the Year ranking in the history of their program.  Montevallo’s two highest-finishing teams at the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops on Pickwick Lake placed 10th & 16th overall.  Those two Top 20 finishes were good enough for a total of 2,520 points to bring their team total for the season up to 13, 965 points.

We had the opportunity to conduct a quick Q&A with team member Adam Carroll following the conclusion of the season.  Here are his responses regarding the team’s second-place finish in the 2020 Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia:

Q – What does it mean to finish 2nd in the Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia?

A – It really means a huge deal to me, and our team as a whole. When I came in as a freshman 3 years ago, we barely had 10 members on our team, and now we’re looking at having over 40 members with this upcoming season. Back then, we never even thought about School of the Year, as it was hard to compete with these bigger programs. As we began to grow, we started to set our sights on SOY, and made it a goal to reach. It’s really amazing to me to see how far we’ve come, and to make an enormous push these last couple years, and especially this year. I think with us coming up just short and finishing 2nd, it really fuels the fire for our guys to win it all next year and the years to come.

Q – What were the emotions like out on the water during that final day, knowing you had a chance to win?

A – I think we see ourselves now as one of the best teams, if not the best team in the country, and we will all be gunning for that number one spot next year. As far as the emotions on the final day, I think we all knew going into it that we definitely had a chance, and really all we could control was how well our team could do. I think we all did an awesome job as a team putting our heads down and fishing as hard as we could, and all we could hope for was that some of the other teams fell a little bit on that second day. We did amazing as a team on that final day and finished with all 5 teams inside the top 25, so there’s really nothing else we could ask for with that.

Q – Briefly describe the chemistry among the team and what you like most about it.

A – I believe our team chemistry is great, and we really all feed off of each other throughout each event. We have fun, but we are also all very serious when it comes to fishing hard and fishing efficiently throughout the week. We all love to see each other succeed, no matter who ends up doing good. I think the thing I love the most about our team is our passion and drive to be the best we all can be, and how awesome the camaraderie is between each team, and the team as a whole. No one boat team can do it all, and with everyone having each other’s backs, on and off the water, is something that’s really special to our group.