Shillow named first-team CoSIDA Academic All-America, Ramsey named to the second team.
COMMERCE – Two Texas A&M University-Commerce football student-athletes named the 2020-21 Academic All-America® Football Team. Alex Shillow earned first-team honors, and Dominique Ramsey earned second-team honors on Tuesday.
Division II members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) select the Academic All-America teams. These honorees were based on career accomplishments for the 2020-21 academic year instead of single-season statistics.
Shillow earns Academic All-America honors for the second consecutive season after earning second-team honors in the 2019 season. It is the first Academic All-America honor for Ramsey.
The duo is the 17th and 18th CoSIDA Academic All-Americas in A&M-Commerce history, and the football team now has eight honorees in program history. In addition, the Lions have had at least one CoSIDA Academic All-America in each of the last five years, which marks the longest streak in Lion Athletics history.
Shillow – a redshirt senior from Pflugerville – becomes the third Lion student-athlete to win multiple CoSIDA Academic All-America awards and the first Lion football player. Andrew King (men’s basketball) was a third-team honoree in 2012 and a first-team honoree in 2013, and Jaslyn Wacker (volleyball) was a second-team selection in 2017 and 2018.
Shillow has distinguished himself on the field, in the classroom, and the community during his career at A&M-Commerce. In January 2020, he was elected to his second term as the National Chair of the NCAA Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). In addition, he has served as the president of the A&M-Commerce SAAC, which has won the last three LSC SAAC Cups and been selected to reveal multiple Make-A-Wish recipients.
He was a 2019 and 2020 nominee for the American Football Coaches Association’s Good Works Team and recipient of the NACDA John McLendon Minority Postgraduate Scholarship. In 2020, he was a national semifinalist for the National Football Foundation’s William V. Campbell Trophy. Fortunately, he will likely be eligible for these awards again in the 2021 season due to the pandemic.
Following the 2019 season, Shillow was honored as a CoSIDA Second-Team Academic All-America, the Lone Star Conference’s Fred Jacoby Academic Athlete of the Year, and the Lone Star Conference Academic Player of the Year in football. He graduated summa cum laude with his bachelor’s degree in sports management in August 2019 and his Master’s of Business Administration in December 2020 and continues graduate work in preparation for his final season of eligibility.
On the field, Shillow has been named Second Team All-LSC in 2019 and 2017 with 159 tackles, four interceptions, 17 passes defended, three fumble recoveries, and 5.5 tackles for loss in 36 games over three seasons.
Ramsey – a redshirt senior from Converse (Judson) – earned three All-American honors in 2019 and has four postseason All-American awards in his career. First Team All-American was named First Team All-American as an all-purpose player by the Associated Press and Second Team All-American as both a return specialist and safety by the Division II Conference Commissioners’ Association (D2CCA). The Cliff Harris Award nominee was also named Dave Campbell’s Texas Football All-Texas, a small college team. In addition, he earned First Team All-Super Region Four honors from the Division II Conference Commissioners Association as both a safety and return specialist.
He was named the National Football Foundation Gridiron Club of Dallas Scholar-Athlete in 2021, as he graduated with his bachelor of science in industrial engineering in May. In addition, he’s been named to the President’s List once, the Dean’s List four times, and the LSC Commissioner’s Honor Roll five times. He was also a 2019 Academic All-LSC selection.
LION ATHLETICS ALL-TIME CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAS
FIRST TEAM
1977 | Mike Hall | Football |
2002 | Summer Sparnon | Women’s Basketball |
2011 | Taylor Fore | Football |
2012 | Desmond King | Men’s Basketball |
2013 | Andrew Davis | Men’s Basketball |
2018 | Mariah Jameyson | Softball |
2018 | Kristov Martinez | Football |
2020-21 | Alex Shillow | Football |
SECOND TEAM
1972 | Will Cureton | Football |
1994 | Tammy Scott | Women’s Track & Field |
1994 | Andrea Hines | Women’s Basketball |
2017 | Jaslyn Wacker | Volleyball |
2018 | Jaslyn Wacker | Volleyball |
2018 | Garrett Blubaugh | Football |
2019 | Alex Shillow | Football |
2020-21 | Dominique Ramsey | Football |
THIRD TEAM
2012 | Andrew Davis | Men’s Basketball |
2016 | Kylene Hatton | Softball |
2021 ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA DIVISION II FOOTBALL
FIRST TEAM
Pos. | Name | School | Yr. | Major |
QB | Evan Ernst | Ohio Dominican | Sr. | Finance |
RB | Brandon Blair | West Texas A&M | Sr. | Biology |
RB | Andrew Brazicki | Bentley | Sr. | Corporate Finance & Accounting |
WR | Henry Litwin (1) | Slippery Rock | Gr. | Safety Management (UG) / MBA (G) |
WR | Konnor Maloney | Hillsdale | Sr. | Exercise Science |
TE | Preston Guerra (1) | Colorado State -Pueblo | Sr. | Business Management |
OL | Derek Ivey (1) | Stonehill | Sr. | Economics |
OL | Lane Potter | Wayne State (Mich.) | Gr. | Global Supply Chain Mgmt. (UG) / MBA (G) |
OL | Andrew Strickland (2) | Wingate | Gr. | Accounting (G) |
OL | Austin Wayt | Slippery Rock | Gr. | Safety Management (UG) / MBA (G) |
OL | Madison Wrather | Northeastern State | Sr. | Cellular & Microbiology / Business |
K | Tanner Harding | Notre Dame (Ohio) | Sr. | Psychology |
DL | Alexander Findura | Bloomsburg | Sr. | Business Management |
DL | Patrick McMahon | Davenport | Sr. | Accounting |
DL | Ricky Robinson (1) | Shepherd | Gr. | Business Administration (UG) / MBA (G) |
DL | JT Turner (2) | Concord (W. Va.) | Sr. | Business Administration |
LB | Jackson Cauthen | Tusculum | Sr. | Nursing |
LB | Jace McDown (2) | Emporia State | Sr. | Health & Human Performance |
LB | Nathan Moore | Notre Dame | Jr. | Management |
DB | Alexander Anschutz | Hillsdale | Sr. | Biochemistry |
DB | Brock Floyd | Southern Arkansas | Jr. | Business Administration / Management |
DB | Alex Shillow (2) | A&M-COMMERCE | Gr. | Sports & Rec Management (UG) / MBA (G) |
DB | Eli Weber | Augustana (S.D) | Jr. | Nursing |
P | Lane Spiker | Washburn | Sr. | Health Services Administration |
ST | Max Drinon | Bentley | Sr. | Supply Chain Management |
ST | Tucker Mullis | Wingate | Sr. | Management |
SECOND TEAM
Pos. | Name | School | Yr. | Major |
QB | Grayson Willingham | Lenoir-Rhyne | Gr. | Business Administration |
RB | Toriano Clinton | Indianapolis | Jr. | Sport Management |
RB | Payton McAlister | Missouri S&T | Jr. | Civil Engineering |
WR | Logan Bolin | Ashland | Gr. | Finance / MBA |
WR | Cole Thurness | Chadron State | Gr. | Organizational Management |
TE | Jordan Smith (#) | Gannon | Sr. | Biomedical Engineering |
OL | Demetrius Blackwell | Catawba | Sr. | Business Administration |
OL | Eric Hudanick | California (Pa.) | Gr. | Business Administration |
OL | Cole Johnson | Hillsdale | Sr. | Financial Management |
OL | Gavin Posey | Ashland | Jr. | Accounting |
OL | Kyle Urich | Missouri S&T | Jr. | Mechanical Engineering |
K | Chase Allbaugh | Lenoir-Rhyne | Sr. | Business Management & Marketing |
DL | Shawn Aarhus | Concordia-St. Paul | Jr. | Health & Physical Education |
DL | Zach Howard | Northwest Missouri State | So. | Physical Education |
DL | Karron Jeter | Winston-Salem State | Sr. | Exercise Science |
DL | Luc Leszczynski | Winona State | Sr. | Economics / Finance |
LB | Jackson Barnes | Northwest Missouri State | Jr. | Chemistry / Medicinal Chemistry |
LB | Clay McDonald | West Liberty | Gr. | Business Management (UG) / MBA (G) |
LB | Dalton Smerchek | Concordia-St. Paul | Sr. | Exercise Science |
DB | Luke Fritsch | Augustana (S.D) | Sr. | Biology |
DB | John Merica | West Virginia Wesleyan | Jr. | Accounting |
DB | Dominique Ramsey | A&M-COMMERCE | Sr. | Industrial Engineering |
DB | Connor Steeb | Indianapolis | Gr. | MBA |
P | Andrew Cantrell | Tusculum | Jr. | Chemistry & Pre-Pharmacy |
CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year: Evan Ernst, Ohio Dominican University
(1) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® first-team selection in 2019-20
(2) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® second-team selection in 2019-20
(#) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® first-team selection in 2018-19