ST. LOUIS - For the sixth consecutive year, the South Dakota State University football team leads its league in all-academic selections. Eleven Jackrabbit players, including three first-team selections, were honored on the 2010 Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Academic Team, which was announced Tuesday.
Leading the way were three-time first-team selections Tyler Duffy and Kyle Minett.
Duffy, a senior running back from Brookings, has compiled a perfect 4.0 grade-point average while majoring in electrical engineering. A second-team ESPN Academic All-America selection in 2010, Duffy ranked second on the team in rushing with 465 yards and scored five touchdowns.
Minett was named to the ESPN Academic All-America First Team for the third consecutive year this fall with a 3.67 GPA in economics. A first-team all-conference selction and candidate for the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision, the senior from Ruthton, Minn., led the league in rushing yards per game (120.8) en route this his third consecutive 1,000-yard season (1,208 yards).
Rounding out SDSU's first-team selections was senior linebacker Derek Domino. A native of Spring Lake Park, Minn., Domino has compiled a 3.31 GPA while majoring in park and recreation management. He led the Jackrabbits in tackles for the second consecutive season, tallying 103 stops in 2010 as he earned first-team all-conference recognition for the second time.
SDSU placed five players on the second team, including Matt Hylland, Brad Iverson and Dean Priddy who were honorable mention selections in 2009.
Hylland, a senior from Sioux Falls, started at wide receiver to begin the season, tallying six catches for 53 yards. He has turned in a 3.92 GPA while majoring in economics.
A junior from Sioux Falls, Iverson has posted a perfect 4.0 GPA while majoring in biochemistry. Listed as a wide receiver, he saw most of his playing time on the Jackrabbits' special teams units in 2010.
Priddy handled the punting duties for four years while completing a degree in mathematics. Currently a graduate student with a 3.68 GPA, Priddy also earned second-team all-MVFC honors after averaging 40.4 yards per attempt in 2010.
Offensive linemen Zach Buchner and Alex Olinger also earned second-team recognition. Buchner, a junior from Coon Rapids, Minn., who has a 3.71 GPA while pursuing a double major in pharmacy and chemistry, started all 11 games at right guard during the 2010 season. Olinger, a sophomore from Ames, Iowa, backed up at the guard positions. He holds a 3.98 GPA as he studies pre-pharmacy, biology and pre-medicine.
Honorable mention selections representing SDSU included Conrad Kjerstad, Tyrel Kool and Ryan McKnight.
League-wide, 42 players were honored on the all-academic team, including 13 first-team selections and 13 second-team honorees. Of the 13 first-team honorees, nine earned ESPN Academic All-America recognition this fall.
Nominees must be starters or key reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore academic and athletic standing at their institutions and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution. The team is selected by the league's sports information directors.
South Dakota State, coached by John Stiegelmeier, led the Great West Football Conference in all-academic selections from 2005-07 and has paced the Missouri Valley Football Conference each of the last three seasons since joining the league in 2008. The Jackrabbits also claimed the conference's team academic award during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years.
