Five in MVFC Named Academic All-Americans
FIRST TEAM
OL Wes Genant, South Dakota State, Gr., 3.90 Human Biology
DL Reece Winkelman, South Dakota State, Sr., 3.87 Business Economics
SECOND TEAM
DL Lane Tucker, North Dakota State, Gr., 3.77/3.86 MBA
LB Jack Cochrane, South Dakota, Sr., 4.00 Criminal Justice / Business
ST Dalton Godfrey, South Dakota, Sr., 4.00 Business Admin.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
South Dakota State offensive lineman Wes Genant and defensive end Reece Winkelman were honored Wednesday as members of the CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I Football First Team.
A Parkston native in his first semester of graduate school, Genant was named to the honor squad for a program-record fourth time after compiling an undergraduate grade-point average of 3.90 as a human biology major. He was a second-team selection in 2017 before earning first-team recognition in 2018 and again during the 2020-21 season. He redshirted in 2019 while recovering from injury. Genant also earned second-team all-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors this fall after helping pave the way for a Jackrabbit offense averaging 37.5 points and 441.3 yards of total offense per game.
Winkelman, a senior from Marshall, Minnesota, was selected with a 3.87 GPA as a business economics major. On the field, he was a second-team all-MVFC selection who currently leads the team with 12.5 tackles for loss and ranks second with 5.5 sacks. South Dakota State football student-athletes have been honored on CoSIDA Academic All-America teams 44 times since 1974. The Jackrabbits have placed at least one player on the squad in 15 of the last 17 seasons, including multiple selections 13 times.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE
North Dakota State defensive tackle Lane Tucker was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® second team. Tucker, a senior from Gillette, Wyo., graduated from the NDSU sport management program and maintains a 3.857 grade point average in the master's of business administration program.
Tucker is NDSU's second leading tackler on the defensive line with 34 total stops including 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks. He also has two quarterback hurries and one pass breakup for the No. 1-ranked scoring defense and third-ranked total defense in the FCS. Also named to the Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Academic second team this fall, Tucker was a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection in the spring.
SOUTH DAKOTA
South Dakota football players Jack Cochrane and Dalton Godfrey have been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America second team.
Cochrane, a senior linebacker and Godfrey, a junior long snapper, become just the 10th and 11th Coyote football players to earn Academic All-America honors and the first since Chris Ganious earned the second of his two honors in 2011. Across all sports, South Dakota's had 53 Academic All-Americans who have combined to earn 68 Academic All-America honors. Cochrane, who holds a 4.00 GPA in Criminal Justice and Business, and Godfrey, a 4.00 student in Business Administration, are two of five from the Missouri Valley Football Conference selected to one of the two teams that totaled 53 players. Cochrane (Mount Vernon, Iowa) was named a HERO Sports All-American on Tuesday, the program's first all-American linebacker since 2013. He is a three-time first team selection of the Valley's all-Academic Team. Cochrane led South Dakota with 103 tackles and his 327 career tackles are sixth-most in program history. He was the only Valley player with four interceptions during conference play. He had 2.0 sacks, 10.0 tackles for loss and broke up six passes.
Godfrey (Cedar Falls, Iowa) has served as long snapper for each of the last four seasons. In addition to being a two-time academic all-MVFC pick, he is a two-time all-Valley honoree. Godfrey has been the snapper for the best punter in program history in Brady Schutt, and helped Mason Lorber to 10 consecutive made field goals during the season. He helped the Coyotes rank 10th nationally in net punting after leading the nation in that category last spring.
The CoSIDA Academic All-America® program recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in athletics and academics. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution.