I just hope that they don't overlook Kirk's established history, prior to becoming captain of the Big E: His first assignment out of the Academy was on the U.S.S. Farragut, and he also served on the U.S.S. Republic as well). Although I have no problem with the idea of seeing Kirk and Spock at the Academy, logically, there's no way he could go from cadet to captain without stops in between.
That said, I'm still excited about this film.