Academic All-District football team for Super Region 2

Austin, Texas----Wingate University has six football student-athletes on the Academic All-District® team for Super Region 2, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Three Bulldogs are repeat selections, led by returning Academic All-America® honorees and WU graduate students Andrew Strickland (offensive lineman) and Tucker Mullis (special teams).
 
Junior wide receiver Trevor Grant is also a repeat pick from the spring 2021 list. Strickland, Mullis and Grant are joined by graduate student quarterback Shaw Crocker, sophomore tight end Austin Cain and senior defensive lineman Jarrett Dutton on the 21-person team.
 
"This is a great group of young men," Wingate head coach Joe Reich says. "They make us better as a program in many ways. We are proud of them."
 
Wingate's six Academic All-District® picks is the most in Super Region 2. Tusculum University is next with four. Wingate, Tusculum and the South Atlantic Conference have 15 of the 21 Academic All-District® Super Region 2 team members. Super Region 2 includes schools from the SAC, the Gulf South Conference, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
 
Andrew Strickland (OL)
 
- Two-time Academic All-America® choice (first team in the spring, second team in 2019)
- Won Jacobs Blocking Trophy and earned first team All-SAC laurels this fall
- Received SAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for football in the spring
- Named the SAC Man of the Year (all sports) in 2020
- Second team Academic All-America® and AFCA All-American in 2019
- One of only three D2 student-athletes to earn academic/athletic double-double in 2019
- Strickland graduated in 2020 with an accounting degree (3.81 GPA)
- Earned a master's of accounting (MAC) degree last spring (3.90 GPA)
- Enrolled in Wingate's MBA program this fall
 
Tucker Mullis (ST/LS)
 
- Earned first team Academic All-America® honors last spring 
- Has started every game he has played at long snapper (47-of-47)
- Helped PK McLean Robertson and punter Ethan Evans make first team All-SAC this year
- Started as a true freshman in 2017, helping Bulldogs to the SAC title
- All-SAC and All-SER thrower on Wingate's track and field team
- Academic All-District® III in track and field twice (2020, 2021)
- Graduated this May with a degree in management (3.82 GPA)
- Enrolled in Wingate's MBA program this fall
 
Trevor Grant (WR)
 
- Academic All-District® III in football and track & field once each
- Caught 21 passes for 221 yards and six touchdowns during the fall season
- Seven catches each in victories over Carson-Newman and Mars Hill
- Posted a career-high three TD grabs in the season-ending triumph over the MHU Lions
- Has a 4.00 GPA with a finance major (accounting minor)
 
Shaw Crocker (QB)
 
- Four-year starter for the Bulldogs
- Completed 172-of-297 passes for 2131 yards and 19 touchdowns this season
- Four TD strikes in huge road victory at UVA Wise
- Three TD passes each in triumphs over Fayetteville State and Limestone
- Graduated last spring with a degree in mathematics and education (3.64 GPA)
- Enrolled in Wingate's MASM program this fall
 
Austin Cain (TE)
 
- Caught six passes for 94 yards this fall
- Snagged one reception each against Shaw, Fayetteville State, C-N, Barton, LR and MHU
- Cain's twin brother (Brock) plays football for the Bulldogs
- His dad (Jeron) and his uncle (Justin) are previous WU football student-athletes as well
- Possesses a 3.36 GPA with his biology major
 
Jarrett Dutton (DL)
 
- Six tackles in four contests this fall
- Opened his season with three tackle assists in a home victory over Shaw
- Collected two tackle assists in the road triumph at UVA Wise
- Had a tackle for a loss against the UVA Wise Cavaliers
- Holds a 3.78 GPA with an exercise science major
 
Wingate Football Academic All-America® notes
 
- Wingate has received 17 Academic All-America® honors in football
- Strickland and Mullis' spring 2021 distinctions are the most recent
- In 2014, five Bulldogs made Academic All-America®
- Will Poteat made Academic All-America® first team in 2014
- Brandon Ellington made second team the same year, his second AA honor
- Jon Jimenez, Eric Mapoles and Nick Napolitano joined Ellington on the 2014 second team
- Mapoles has two lifetime AAA awards as well
 
Academic All-America® program notes
 
The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure, assisting CoSIDA with the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2021-22 DII Academic All-America® teams' program. To be nominated for Academic All-America® honors, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore with a 3.30 cumulative grade point average and must be a starter or a significant reserve on his team.
 
Wingate University
 
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a laboratory of difference-making that serves more than 3,400 students in North Carolina. Wingate offers 37 undergraduate majors as well as eight master's and five doctoral degrees. The University is home to the Cannon College of Arts and Sciences; the Levine College of Health Sciences; the Byrum School of Business; and the College of Professional Studies, which includes the Thayer School of Education and the School of Sport Sciences.
 
Wingate is a leader in healthcare education, and nearly one in five Wingate undergraduate students is preparing to be a pharmacist, physician assistant, physical therapist, occupational therapist or nurse. Student-athletes on Wingate's 24 teams compete in NCAA Division II and have brought home the SAC Echols Athletic Excellence Award for 13 years straight. The University's motto is "Faith, Knowledge, Service." View current news and videos at www.wingate.edu.