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TAMUC – Sports

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