Concordia football lands six on Scholar-Athlete list

By Jacob Knabel on Dec. 19, 2016 in Football

2016 NAIA football Scholar-Athletes

SEWARD, Neb. – A total of six student-athletes represented the Concordia University football program on the list of 2016 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes, released on Friday (Dec. 16) by the NAIA. Four Bulldogs are repeat honorees: seniors Cameron Christiansen, Kinser Gergen, Hallick Lehmann and Brandon Luetchens. The other two are first-time Scholar-Athletes: juniors Matt Chilman and Justus Thompson. Lehmann is also a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American.

In order to be nominated by an institution’s head coach or sports information director, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status. A total of 325 football student-athletes across the nation were named 2016 Scholar-Athletes by the NAIA.

Concordia University ranks as the NAIA’s all-time leader in number of Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes with 1,233 and counting (27 for the fall athletics season). The 2015-16 season produced a GPAC best 92 Bulldog scholar-athletes and a national best 20 NAIA Scholar-Teams. The 2014-15 season culminated with GPAC-leading totals of 94 Bulldog scholar-athletes and 17 NAIA Scholar-Teams. During the 2013-14 academic year, Concordia garnered 101 Scholar-Athlete honorees (most in the NAIA) and 17 NAIA Scholar-Teams (tied for fourth nationally).

2016 Football Scholar-Athletes