ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American List

Former Cobber Academic All-Americans

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/26/08) -- Concordia senior defensive back Levi DeVries (Bejou, Minn./Mahnomen HS) has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American First Team it was announced on Wednesday. He is the first player in program history to earn Academic All-American First Team honors.

DeVries is the only MIAC player to earn Academic All-American First Team honors. He is one of only four conference players to be placed on one of the two Academic All-American lists. St. John's running back Jeff Schnobrich, Bethel defensive back David Benjamin and Gustavus defensive back T.J. Ridley all earned second team honors.

Overall DeVries is the fifth player in program history to achieve Academic All-American status. He joins Grant Weller, who was named to the Academic All-American Second Team last season, and Jordan Talge, who was also honored with second team honors in 2004, as the only players to win the award since 1998. Bob Zacher (1998) and Chris Reimertz (1991) are the other two CC football players to win the prestigious award.

He is the eighth athlete in Concordia history to achieve Academic All-American First Team honors. Additionally, he also becomes the 19th athlete in CC history to earn Academic All-American honors. He is the seventh Cobber athlete in the past three years that has earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American honors. DeVries is the second CC fall sport athlete to be named to the Academic All-American squad. Concordia men's soccer player Justin Foss was named to the Academic All-American Third Team on Nov. 19.

The award caps an honor-filled season for the senior defensive back. DeVries was named to the MIAC All-Conference Honorable Mention Team earlier in the week. He was also as a semifinalist for the Draddy Trophy. The Draddy Trophy is one of the top honors in college football as it takes into consideration a player's on field accomplishments as well as their success in the classroom and community activities.

Devries is a Physics and Mathematics double major who carries a 3.97 grade point average. On the field he is a four-year starter and one of the four co-captains this season. Devries is a three-time MIAC All-Academic honoree and has been a member of the Dean's List every semester at Concordia. He was also inducted into the Sigma Pi Sigma honor society for Physics and received the Randy Kurt Bartholomaus Scholarship.

DeVries played in every game during his four-year career. He finished by playing in 42 games for the Cobbers. He was moved from running back to defensive back in his sophomore season and over the last three seasons DeVries amassed 87 total tackles. He had 61 solo tackles and 26 assisted tackles during that time. DeVries also contributed 17 pass break-ups and three interceptions in his career. In Concordia's upset win over conference champion St. John's this season DeVries led the team in tackles with eight and forced one fumble and broke up one pass. The eight tackles was a career high for DeVries.

The ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, the College Sports Information Directors of America; a 2,000-member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Division I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.