NORTHFIELD, Minn. – A team record equaling five members of the Carleton College football team has been elected to the 2021 CoSIDA Whole District varsity team. This quintet includes the senior defensive lineman Jean Witte (Wessington Springs, SD / Wessington Springs), defensive backs Travis Brown (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) and Ryan mcgregor (Ellsworth, Wis / Ellsworth), as well as junior linebacker Isaac simons (Oconomowoc, Wis./Lake Country Lutheran) and second-year defensive lineman Michael carey (Haddonfield, NJ / Haddonfield Memorial).
The Academic All-District® team recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performance on the field and in the classroom. District 6 includes the NCAA Division III schools of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
It was Brown’s fourth academic nod in the entire district. He had already been elected for the football version for the 2019 season and the 2020-21 academic year. He added an academic honor of baseball in all districts after the 2021 campaign. Witte is a three-time selection for football, while McGregor earned his second consecutive honor. Simons and Carey received academic recognition from all districts for the first time.
To be eligible for the Academic All-District and Academic All-America program, a student-athlete must be a university beginner or a key reserve, maintain a GPA of at least 3.30 on a 4.00 scale, have achieved a second level athletic and academic results at their current institution and be appointed by their director of sports information.
Only 25 players from District 6 were selected this time around, with Carleton’s five-player tally tied for the most part in the tri-state region with the perennial national power of the University of Saint John’s.
The five Carleton student-athletes who won the honor this year are part of a Knights defense that placed third in MIAC in points awarded, third in MIAC and 45th nationally in ground defense, and punctuated the MIAC and tied for 17th in the nation in forced turnover with 25.
Brown is a stat major with a 3.59 GPA who has been one of the leaders for the Knights this season on both defensive and specials. In the second leg, he averaged 22.0 yards per kick return, including a 95 yard kickoff return for a touchdown at Macalester, and 11.6 yards per punt return. , the two averages punctuating all MIAC players. Brown also averaged 38.1 yards per punt, but due to Carleton’s two-punt system, he missed two punts to advance to the conference and national standings, where his average would have placed third and 41st respectively.
A safety, Brown was third in MIAC with 81 total tackles and fifth with three interceptions. He made a fumble return for a touchdown and has been named MIAC Athlete of the Week three times this season, twice on the defensive end of the ball and once for Special Teams Player of the Week, in addition to be named to the D3football.com Team of the Week once.
Carey graduated in chemistry with a GPA of 3.89. He finished tied for second in MIAC with seven sacks this season, including six in MIAC games. He had 3.5 sacks in a game earlier this season at St. Scholastica – the third-highest game total in team history – and finished with seven tackles, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and a pass break in the 30-14 win. He finished with 48 tackles to place fifth on the team, including 10.0 tackles for a loss.
McGregor is a major in Economics with a cumulative GPA of 3.66. He finished tied for first in MIAC with 10 stoppages, to go along with the top four team interceptions, which placed him third in the conference. McGregor was a threat to conference opponents as he totaled 41 solo saves, a league-high, in MIAC’s eight games and totaled at least seven tackles on six occasions, including double-digit numbers in three. matches. He was MIAC Defensive Player of the Week and was entered into D3football.com’s Team of the Week following the Knights’ first of two wins over Macalester.
Simons is a major in Economics with a GPA of 3.72. He led the Knights with 82 tackles this season, a mark that has earned him second among all MIAC players. He finished with 10.5 tackles for a loss, which was the fourth best in the conference, and added 4.5 sacks to take sixth place in MIAC. Simons recorded double-digit tackling totals in three games, and his 71 tackles in conference games were tied among all players, averaging 8.9 saves per game. Simons has won MIAC Defensive Player of the Week recognition once.
Witte graduated in Computer Science with a GPA of 3.61. He had 39 tackles in eight games and finished with 7.5 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, seven rushing quarterbacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Carleton finished the season with a 7-3 record, the program’s best performance since 2008.
This is the second time in a row that the Knights have had five academic caps across all districts. Brown, Carey, McGregor, Simons and Witte are now moving on to the All-America academic ballot, where first, second and third team winners will be announced in mid-December. Brown was a second-team All-America academy pick for the 2020-21 academic year.
Comments are closed.