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