Many high school athletes aspire to one day compete in college athletics. Academic performance at the high school level is often an early question that college coaches ask about when considering a prospect from the high school level. Remember, it is "student-athlete" and not just "athlete."
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has established “initial-eligibility standards” to determine whether an athlete may compete as a freshman in college, based on their high school GPA in “core courses” and their results on a college entrance examination (ACT or SAT). The link below provides information about these requirements for the NCAA Division I and the NCAA Division II levels: link
Similarly, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics has a set of “initial-eligibility standards” for its member schools. Here is a link to the NAIA requirements: link