AUSTIN, Texas - Missouri Western football's Shawn Rouse was named first team Academic All-America® by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Rouse became the 17th Griffon to ever receive the distinction and the second this calendar year. It was the fourth consecutive academic year, Missouri Western had a student-athlete named Academic All-America®. Rouse started 45-straight games at left tackle for the Griffons and was twice named Google Cloud Academic All-District®. The senior from Omaha, Nebraska was a three-time All-MIAA selection, earning third team honors in 2019. A construction engineering major, Rouse was named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll five times and received three MIAA Scholar-Athlete awards.
The 25 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division II football first team members held a composite 3.85 GPA. Eight first team honorees held a 3.95 or better cumulative GPA. Thirteen Academic All-America® Division II football selections were repeat picks with seven of the veterans making the 2019 first team. The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2019-20 Division II Academic All-America® teams program.
CoSIDA began the distinguished Academic All-America® program in 1952, and since then, has honored thousands of deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America® scholar-athlete honors.
Currently, CoSIDA sponsors Academic All-America® programs for men's soccer, women's soccer, football, volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball and men's and women's track and field/cross country. Many other sports are eligible through the At-Large program.
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. No student-athlete is eligible until he/she has completed one full calendar year at his/her current institution and has reached sophomore athletic eligibility.
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