Football gets 3 Academic All-Americans

December 1, 2005
Three St. Thomas football standouts received more elite honors as they were voted to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America football squad announced Thursday.

Tommie defensive tackle Ben Kessler (SR-Janesville, Wis.) was one of nine repeat first-team honorees and was one of seven honored with a 4.00 gpa. Two others were honored for the first time and made second-team -- linebacker Andrew Ubbelohde (SR-Red Wing) and wideout P.J. Theisen (JR-Elko/New Prague).

St. Thomas and RPI were the only Division III institutions to have three football Academic All-Americans. Just two other MIAC football student-athletes received the elite honor -- St. John's senior standouts Matt Hawn and Jason Good. Theisen was one of just eight juniors honored on the College team.

In all, 48 players were named to the University Division team (Division I and I-AA) and 48 more were honored on the College Division team (Divisions II, III and NAIA). The College Division squad is selected from NCAA Divisions II and III and the NAIA. There are approximately 450 schools that play football in D-II (110), D-III (257) and NAIA (91) -- so the 48 players are the elite student-athletes from more than 35,000 players in these divisions.

St. Thomas also had three football Academic All-Americans in 2002 (Jake Barkley, Andrew Hilliard and Andy Kaiser). Tommies football players have been honored for the elite award 14 times in the last 13 seasons, including 10 times since 2000.

The 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 consisted 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 grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings 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 Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.


Kessler

Kessler, a four-year letterman and three-year starter, is a Philosophy and Business double major with 4.00 gpa. He was a repeat first-team Academic All-American. He was honored for the third-year in a row on the All-MIAC team as a first-teamer in 2005 and as a second-team pick in 2003 and 2004. He led the MIAC in tackles for loss last season and in 36 career games had 169 tackles, 22 sacks, 35 tackles for loss, three fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles and three blocked kicks. A student in St. John Vianney Seminary, Kessler plans to become a Catholic priest and was profiled in the Nov. 21 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. A co-captain, he also was named to 2005 AFCA Good Works Team.


Ubbelohde

Ubbelohde, a Marine ROTC student, has a 3.81 gpa in Criminal Justice was a three-time All-MIAC selection. He has been invited by the American Football Coaches' Association (AFCA) to play in the Dec. 17 Aztec Bowl in Toluca, Mexico, with the Division III all-star team. Ubbelohde ended the regular season third in the nation in tackles per game with 14.9; had a school-record 21 tackles vs. St. John's in his final college game; broke a UST season tackles record with 133 in nine games; and closed his career with 318 tackles, second-most in Tommie history, including 307 in 24 starts since 2003.


Theisen

Theisen has a 3.89 gpa in Accounting. In 2005 he led the conference with 63 catches for 998 yards, including five consecutive 100-plus yard receiving games. In Division III national stats, he finished 12th in receiving yards per game and 13th in all-purpose yards. He tied a 19-year-old school record Nov. 12 at Hamline with four touchdown receptions -- all in the first half -- to lead a 35-13 victory. His four TD catches doubled his career total and matched the UST single-game record set by Brian Biehn vs. St. John's in 1986. Playing just three quarters, Theisen had 12 receptions for 224 yards -- believed to rank in the top-10 all-time in the MIAC for receiving yards in one game. Theisen has 118 career catches for 1,829 yards in 28 games and is on pace to finish in the top five of both UST career charts. In track and field, Theisen has run on three MIAC championship teams, qualified for nationals twice in the 400 hurdles, and has run on two NCAA runner-up 4x400 relays. Theisen's sister Katie also made first-team All-MIAC this fall with a 13th-place conference-meet finish in cross country. She went on to take 71st at nationals in just her first season as a distance runner.

see CoSIDA story, list of honorees here