CLEVELAND, Ohio -- South Dakota State University football players Parker Douglass and Cory Koenig have each been selected among eight finalists to receive $5,000 postgraduate scholarships from the Football Championship Subdivision Athletic Directors Association.

From the eight finalists, two will be selected as the postgraduate scholarships during the association's annual membership meeting in June.

Douglass and Koenig were also honored for the second year in a row on the association's 51-player Academic All-Star Team on Friday.

A kicker from Columbus, Neb., Douglass carries a 3.78 grade-point average in biology. A three-time first-team all-conference selection and GWFC Special Teams Player of the Year in both 2005 and 2006, Douglass set 19 school records, including most career field goals (62) and points by a kicker (321) during his four-year career with the Jackrabbits. In 2007, he led the league in field goals with 16 and finished second in scoring among the league's kickers with 90 points. Douglass also was honored as a member of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Second Team for the second year in a row last month.

Also a biology major, Koenig, a running back from Underwood, Iowa, has compiled a 3.77 GPA throughout his collegiate career. A first-team all-Great West Football Conference selection in 2007 as well as a repeat selection to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team, Koenig ranked second in the conference for rushing during the 2007 campaign, tallying 1,266 yards with 15 touchdowns. A captain for the Jackrabbit squad that captured its first conference title since 1963, Koenig posted six 100-yard games during the 2007 season, including each of the four league games — the only GWFC player to accomplish the feat — with a career-high of 259 yards Oct. 20 versus Cal Poly.

Both plan to attend medical school.

To be considered for the awards, student-athletes were required to have a minimum grade-point average of 3.20 in undergraduate study and have been a starter or key player with legitimate athletics credentials, while playing in at least 50 percent of the team's games.