Spring drills may be over for the University of Northern Colorado football team, but with final exams on the horizon, the academic aspect of being a student-athlete is front-and-center.
Overall, 15 UNC football players have been named to the Academic All-Colorado team for their success in the classroom.
Heading the list is CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, linebacker Luke Nelson.
Nelson is a criminal justice major with a 3.96 grade-point average. He led the Bears with 86 tackles, 51 solo tackles, five tackles for a loss, five sacks and one interception.
The 10 UNC players who were named to the Academic All-Colorado first team, requiring a 3.3-4.0 grad-point average were:
Trey Adams, fresh., safety, 3.49, business administration; Fisayo Awolaja, jr., 3.66, offensive lineman, public health; Sherand Boyd, jr., 3.69, safety, special education; Darren DeLaCroix, fresh., 3.61, wide receiver, business administation; Aaron Harris, fresh., 3.77, defensive back, business administration; Jacob Knipp, sr., 3.85, quarterback, sport & exercise science/business; Justice Litrell, jr., 3.33, fullback, criminology & criminal justice; Tyree McNeil, fresh., 3.52, defensive back, sport & exercise science; Luke Nelson, jr., 3.96, linebacker, criminology & criminal justice; Collin Root, jr., 3.65, linebacker/kicker, sport & exercise science.
Five UNC football players were named to the Academic All-Colorado honorable metion squad:
Jean Desir, fresh., 3.21, defensive lineman, criminology and criminal justice; Sean Reemts, soph., 3.28, offensive lineman, criminology and criminal justice; Henry Stelzner, sr., 3.25, linebacker, economics; Tank Terrell, sr., 3.28, defensive end, sport & exercise science; Nic Vinson, fresh., 3.27, safety, communication studies.
Future Bear Jon Nuschy, a safety from La Junta, was also honored by the National Football Foundation for being named the Class 2A Player of the Year three times.
- MORE ALIREZ: Greeley Central 152-pound senior, who will wrestle for the Bears next season, was named to the USA Today, high school All-American team this week after finishing his high school career as the first-ever four-time Colorado state champion and being ranked No. 1 in the nation.
- WALTON MOVING UP: Rachel Walton has been named as the senior associate athletic director and senior woman administrator at UNC.
“I’m really excited about this opportunity,” Walton said in a news release. “What excites me the most about the new role is the ability to support our student-athletes and ensure they have a great experience at UNC.”
Walton, a graduate of Rutgers University, came to UNC two years ago and was serving as the director of compliance and interim senior women’s administrator since this fall.
Before coming to UNC, she worked in administrative positions at Wagner College, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the double A Trenton Thunder (New York Yankees) and the Philadelphia Yankees.