Complete ESPN The Magazine Academic Release

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/07/08) -- Concordia senior defensive back Levi DeVries (Bejou, Minn./Mahnomen HS) was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team it was announced on Friday.

The award follows on the heels of DeVries being named as a semifinalist for the Draddy Award.

He becomes the fifth Cobber player in the last six seasons to win the award. Last year Grant Weller '08

was named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team and later went on to be named to the Academic All-American Second Team. Besides Weller, Matt Kleber '07 earned the award in 2006, Jodan Talge '05 was named first team and alsoearned Academic All-American honors. Mitch Maxwell '04 was awarded the honor in 2003.

DeVries will advance to the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration. He was one of five MIAC football student/athletes chosen to the first team.

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 has played in all 40 games since coming to Concordia in the fall of 2005. This year he is ninth on the team in tackles and has six pass break-ups and one forced fumble. Over the course of his career he has 83 total tackles including 58 solo tackles. He also has three career interceptions. In Concordia's breakout win over St. John's earlier 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.