ST. LOUIS – Eight South Dakota State University football student-athletes were honored Wednesday as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Academic Team. Selections were based on a vote among the league’s sports information directors.
Senior offensive tackle Evan Greeneway was the lone Jackrabbit named to the 13-member first team. A Yankton native, Greeneway compiled a 3.73 grade-point average in undergraduate coursework as a civil engineering major and is in his first semester of graduate school. Also a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, Greeneway was a repeat honoree on the MVFC All-Academic First Team.
Five Jackrabbits received recognition on the second team, including linebackers Logan Backhaus (3.62 GPA, biotechnology), Christian Rozeboom (3.29 GPA, animal science) and Preston Tetzlaff (3.93 GPA, business economics). The other second-team honorees were senior tight end Kallan Hart (3.82 GPA, civil engineering) and sophomore defensive end Reece Winkelman (3.95 GPA, sociology).
Rounding out the SDSU contingent were honorable mention selections Ryan Earith (3.66 GPA, consumer affairs) and Lance Eide (3.94 GPA, agricultural business). Both are seniors.
A total of 41 student-athletes were honored league-wide. The Jackrabbits’ eight total selections were tied with the University of South Dakota for the most in the MVFC.
Nominees must be starters or important reserves and must have participated in at least 50 percent of his team’s games. A minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 is required, and nominees must have reached sophomore standing both athletically and academically.
2019 MISSOURI VALLEY FOOTBALL CONFERENCE ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
First Team
Ht. Wt. Yr. GPA Major Hometown
RB: Joe Alessi, YSU 5-10 190 Sr. 3.80 Biology North Lima, Ohio
S: Jeremy Chinn, SIU 6-3 212 Sr. 3.546 Exercise Science Fishers, Ind.
LB: Jack Cochrane, USD 6-3 230 Jr. 4.00 Criminal Justice Mount Vernon, Iowa
TE: Ben Ellefson, NDSU 6-3 250 Sr. 3.934 Sport Management Hawley, Minn.
OL: Evan Greeneway, SDSU 6-7 295 Gr. 3.73 Civil Engineering Yankton, S.D.
DB: Kyle Hegedus, YSU 5-11 195 Gr. 3.89 Biology Brook Park, Ohio
OL: Drew Himmelman, IlSU 6-10 315 Jr. 3.82 Exercise Science Geneseo, Ill.
QB: Peyton Huslig, MSU 6-3 204 Sr. 3.71 Cell & Molecular Biology Andover, Kan.
LB: Chris Kolarevic, UNI 6-1 230 So. 3.96 Economics: Business Econ. Traverse City, Mich.
OL: Jacob Marnin, SIU 6-2 316 Gr. 4.00 Criminal Justice Master’s Altoona, Iowa
FB: Clint Ratkovich, WIU 6-1 220 Jr. 3.719 Engineering Technology Crete, Ill.
DL: Derrek Tuszka, NDSU 6-5 246 Sr. 3.591 Crop & Weed Sciences Warner, S.D.
DE: Kyle Williams, WIU 6-4 265 Jr. 3.844 Medical Sciences Lebanon, Ind.
Second Team
LB: Logan Backhaus, SDSU 6-4 205 Jr. 3.62 Biotechnology Spirit Lake, Iowa
FB: Jacob Garrett, SIU 6-2 251 So. 4.00 Undeclared Sellersburg, Ind.
LB: Jackson Hankey, NDSU 6-1 220 So. 4.00 Agricultural Economics Park River, N.D.
TE: Kellan Hart, SDSU 6-5 250 Sr. 3.82 Civil Engineering Lonsdale, Minn.
WR: Dante Hendrix, InSU 6-3 195 So. 3.58 Management Florence, Ky.
TE: Connor Herrmann, USD 6-5 220 Jr. 3.81 Kinesiology & Sport Science Mount Vernon, Iowa
SS: James Kaczor, NDSU 6-0 205 So. 3.775 Manufacturing Engineering St. Cloud, Minn.
FB: Garrett Malstrom, NDSU 6-0 250 Sr. 4.00 (Gr.) Business Administration Vergas, Minn.
QB: Nathan Mays, YSU 6-3 220 Gr. 3.67 Professional Communication Urbana, Ohio
LB: Christian Rozeboom, SDSU 6-2 230 Sr. 3.29 Animal Science Sioux Center, Iowa
P: Brady Schutt, USD 6-1 210 Jr. 3.82 Kinesiology & Sport Science Orange City, Iowa
QB: Austin Simmons, USD 6-1 215 Sr. 3.55 Physical Education Council Bluffs, Iowa
LB: Preston Tetzlaff, SDSU 6-2 215 Jr. 3.93 Business Economics Brookings, S.D.
DE: Reece Winkelman, SDSU 6-4 250 So. 3.95 Sociology Marshall, Minn.
Honorable mention
IlSU – Adam Solomon, OL; Zeke Vandenburgh, LB. InSU – Wyatt Wozniak, OL. MSU – Parker Lacina, PK. NDSU – Garret Wegner, P. UNI – Joe Friedrich, LS; Seth Thomas, DE. USD – Dalton Godfrey, LS; Alex Jensen, LT; Mason Scheidegger, RG; Caleb Vander Esch, WR. SDSU – Ryan Earith, DE; Lance Eide, DB. WIU – Tom Rehfeld, LB.
