2021 CoSIDA Academic® All-America Football Team - NCAA Division III

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Seven College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) student-athletes were named to the 2021 Academic All-America® Division III Football Team as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Thursday.

Wheaton senior quarterback Luke Anthony, Wheaton junior running back Giovanni Weeks, Wheaton senior linebacker Ryan Schwartz, North Central MBA student linebacker Ben Wong, and North Central senior defensive back Jake Beesley were each named to the First Team. Wheaton senior defensive back Caleb Egbert and WashU graduate student defensive back Andrew Whitaker were Second Team selections.

A senior Business and Economics major at Wheaton, Anthony earned First Team quarterback honors with a 3.91 cumulative grade point average. The Thunder signal-caller started all 12 games for the Thunder at quarterback in 2021, throwing for 2,557 yards with 27 touchdown passes. Anthony completed 180 of his 290 passing attempts for a 62.1 completion percentage this season.

Weeks is a Business and Economics major at Wheaton with a 3.67 cumulative grade point average. A junior, the First Team pick at running back ranks second in Division III this year with an average of 8.2 yards per carry. He tallied a school record 1,462 rushing yards on 179 carries. He ran for a school record 20 rushing touchdowns this year. Weeks had 1,938 all-purpose yards this season and his 176.2 all-purpose yards per game ranks fifth in Division III this season. 

Schwartz is a Business and Economics major at Wheaton with a 3.82 cumulative grade point average. A First Team honoree at linebacker, the senior was a semifinalist for the 2021 National Football Foundation "Scholar-Athlete" award earlier this fall. Schwartz led the Wheaton defense in total total tackles this season with 89, including 64 solo stops. He has 9-1/2 tackles for loss (-17 yards), and three interceptions.

A senior neuroscience graduate and MBA student, Wong is an Academic All-America honoree for the third straight season, becoming the first North Central athlete in any sport to be so honored three times. He is the Cardinals' second-leading tackler (58) this season and currently ranks ninth in North Central history in career tackles (233). Wong earned First Team All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) selections the last two seasons as well.

A senior double major in finance and accounting, Beesley ranks second all-time at North Central in pass breakups (36) and passes defended (44). He ranks second in the CCIW and 20th in the nation in passes defended per game (1.4) this season while ranking second nationally in pass breakups (17).. An Academic All-District and Academic All-America selection during the 2020-2021 academic year as well, Beesley earned First Team All-America honors from the Associated Press and Third Team All-America accolades from D3football.com as well as North Central's CCIW Jack Swartz Academic All-Conference award in 2019.

Egbert, a cornerback, is a Business and Economics major at Wheaton with a 3.45 cumulative GPA. A Second Team Academic All-American at defensive back, he made 40 total tackles this season, including 33 solo stops. He registered a team-leading four interceptions, tying for the CCIW lead in the category. He returned three of his picks this season for a touchdown.

Whitaker is currently a biomedical engineering graduate student after finishing his biomedical engineering undergraduate studies at WashU with a 3.79 grade-point average. As a corner, Whitaker finished the season with 46 total tackles including 40 solo for a 4.2 per-game average. He tallied one tackle-for-a-loss, one fumble recovery, three pass breakups and a team-high four interceptions for 20 yards. Capping off a great career at WashU, Whitaker converted one of those interceptions into the first touchdown of his career.

The Academic All-America program honors student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level in athletics and in the classroom. Members of the eight First Team Academic All-District squads in each Division advance to the national ballot, where they have the opportunity to be selected for the Academic All-America Team. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA; a 2,000-plus member organization consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be nominated for Academic All-America® recognition, 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 or her current institution. For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit CoSIDA.com.
The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2018-19 academic year, the CCIW honored over 2,200 academic all-conference recipients, 18 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 43 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients, and over 100 all-Americans.