Southland Conference

FRISCO, Texas – Abilene Christian quarterback Luke Anthony is the 2018 Southland Conference Football Student-Athlete of the Year and one of the Wildcats' five selections to the all-academic team, announced by the league Tuesday. Southland yearly awards are presented by Ready Nutrition.

ACU's five honorees led the way while Houston Baptist, Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana collected a trio of selections. McNeese, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin each earned a pair of honorees. Central Arkansas and Lamar each garnered one pick.

A two-time all-academic team selection, Anthony was voted to the FCS ADA Academic All-Star team and boasts a perfect 4.00 grade point average while majoring in finance. 

A member of the 2018 All-Conference Honorable Mention squad, the Fort Worth, Texas, native led the league in completions (319) and completion percentage (65.9) and ranked second in passing yards (3,019) and touchdowns (23).

Four additional student-athletes are also returning all-academic selections, led by three-time honoree Ryan Reed of Northwestern State. Nicholls running back Dontrell Taylor, Houston Baptist defensive lineman Andre Walker and Sam Houston State defensive back Adrian Contreras all landed on the all-academic team for a second time.

Three other student-athletes posted perfect 4.00 grade point averages – ACU defensive back Erik Huhn and Stephen F. Austin offensive lineman Hayden Scott and defensive back Gavin Roland.

Southland Conference All-Academic Teams are voted upon by head coaches, sports information directors and an academic/compliance staff member from each school. Student-Athletes of the Year are voted upon by an awards committee which consists of one administrator from each member school. Voting for one's own athletes is not permitted.

To be eligible for all-academic distinction, an athlete must hold a minimum 3.00 cumulative GPA through the semester prior to the sport's championship, completed at least one full academic year at the nominating school prior to the current season, and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competitions during the most recently completed season.

Student-Athlete of the Year nominees must have at least a 3.20 GPA and have completed at least two years of athletic competition at the nominating school, including the current season.

2018 Southland Football Student-Athlete of the Year: Luke Anthony, Abilene Christian

2018 Southland Football All-Academic Team

Pos.	Name	School	Hometown	Cl.	GPA	Major
QB	Luke Anthony2#	Abilene Christian	Fort Worth, Texas	Jr.	4.00	Finance
RB	Chance Pierce	Abilene Christian	Bridgeport, Texas	Jr.	3.40	Kinesiology
RB	Dontrell Taylor^2	Nicholls	White Castle, La.	Jr.	3.75	Petroleum Sciences - Safety Technology
OL	Chandler Arceneaux*2	Nicholls	Bourg, La.	Sr.	3.45	Interdisciplinary Studies
OL	Dustin Burns	Northwestern State	Beaumont, Texas	Sr.	3.71	Biology
OL	Eddie Houston	Nicholls	Newton, Miss.	Gr.	3.18	Human Performance Education
OL	Kade Parmelly^	Abilene Christian	Abilene, Texas	Jr.	3.90	Kinesiology
OL	Hayden Scott	Stephen F. Austin	Spring, Texas	Gr.	4.00	Professional Accountancy
TE	Bransen Schwebel*	Southeastern Louisiana	Amite, La.	Jr.	3.00	Management
WR	Josh Fink^&#	Abilene Christian	Coppell, Texas	Sr.	3.96	Finance
WR	Brandon Myers	Central Arkansas	Plant City, Fla.	So.	3.48	Undecided
PK	Gunnar Raborn	McNeese	Lafayette, La.	Sr.	3.21	Management
P	Alex Kjellsten*	McNeese	Lake Charles, La.	Sr.	3.40	General Studies
DL	Dedrick Garner	Lamar	Fairfield, Texas	Sr.	3.14	Criminal Justice
DL	Johnavhon Graham	Houston Baptist	DeSoto, Texas	Sr.	3.15	Kinesiology/Wellness Management
DL	Jon Miller	Southeastern Louisiana	Pelham, N.Y.	Sr.	3.24	General Studies
DL	Andre Walker^2	Houston Baptist	Slidell, La.	Jr.	3.52	Biochemistry/Molecular Biology
LB	Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund^	Southeastern Louisiana	Darmouth, Nova Scotia	Jr.	3.89	Biology
LB	Langston Tunson	Houston Baptist	Humble, Texas	Jr.	3.93	Legal Studies
DB	Adrian Contreras^2#	Sam Houston State	Georgetown, Texas	Sr.	3.66	Accounting
DB	Erik Huhn	Abilene Christian	Cibolo, Texas	Gr.	4.00	Higher Education
DB	Zyon McCollum*	Sam Houston State	Galveston, Texas	So.	3.08	Biomedical Sciences
DB	Ryan Reed^3	Northwestern State	St. Francisville, La.	Sr.	3.59	Industrial Engineering Technology
DB	Gavin Roland^	Stephen F. Austin	League City, La.	So.	4.00	Biology

* Automatic selection; First Team All-Conference

^ Automatic selection; CoSIDA Academic All-District

& Automatic selection; CoSIDA Academic All-American

# Automatic selection; FCS ADA Academic All-Star

2 Two-time all-academic selection

3 Three-time all-academic selection