UIW's Anyalebechi is Southland Football Student-Athlete of the Year, leading all-academic team

1/11/2023 9:00:00 AM

FRISCO, Texas – UIW linebacker Kelechi Anyalebechi is the 2022 Southland Conference Football Student-Athlete of the Year, highlighting this season’s selections to the All-Academic Team.

Anyalebechi helped lead the Cardinals to the NCAA FCS semifinal round and was also the Southland Defensive Player of the Year, a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award for top defensive player in the nation, a second team All-America honoree by Stats Perform, and third team All-America honoree by the Associated Press and Phil Steele. He also has a 4.00 grade point average while pursuing an MBA in sport management.

UIW led the conference with seven selections to the all-academic team, followed by Southeastern with six. McNeese and Nicholls each had four picks, Northwestern State and A&M-Commerce had two selections apiece, and HCU had one selection.

Six student-athletes have earned all-academic distinction multiple times, with UIW offensive lineman Reid Francis and HCU linebacker Brennan Young earning the honor for a third time. Anyalabechi and McNeese offensive lineman Trey Vondenstein each have a perfect GPA, leading a team with an average of a 3.78 GPA.

The team was voted upon by the head coach, sports information director, and an academic/compliance staff member from each school. 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 school prior to the current season, and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competitions during the most recently completed season.

First team all-conference selections who meet the qualifications are automatically selected to the team, as well as College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selections.

2022 Southland Football Student-Athlete of the Year: Kelechi Anyalebechi, UIW

Southland Football All-Academic Team

Pos.	Name	School	Hometown	Cl.	GPA	Major
QB	Zach Clement	Northwestern State	Broussard, La.	Sr.	3.75	Biology
RB	Marcus Cooper	UIW	Altair, Texas	Gr.	3.13	MS, Sport Management
RB	Collin Guggenheim	Nicholls	Kenner, La.	Jr.	3.22	Human Performance Education
TE	Ivan Drobocky ^C	Southeastern	Bowling Green, Ky.	So.	3.54	Supply Chain Management
WR	Darion Chafin *	UIW	Wichita Falls, Texas	Gr.	3.50	MS, Sport Management
WR	Taylor Grimes *	UIW	Godley, Texas	Sr.	3.50	Cultural Studies
WR	Nick Kovacs	Southeastern	Springboro, Ohio	Sr.	3.82	General Studies
OL	John Allen *²	Southeastern	Jackson, Miss.	Jr.	3.00	Strategic Communication
OL	Calvin Barkat *^C2	McNeese	Sachse, Texas	Sr.	3.59	H&HP-Pre Chiropractic
OL	Reid Francis *³	UIW	College Station, Texas	Sr.	3.99	Engineering
OL	Caleb Johnson *	UIW	Mount Pleasant, Texas	Sr.	3.12	Engineering Physics
OL	Dom Serapiglia III ^C	Southeastern	Jefferson Hills, Pa.	So.	3.57	Supply Chain Management
OL	Trey Vondenstein ^C	McNeese	Katy, Texas	R-Jr.	4.00	H&HP-Health Promotions
PK	Carson Mohr	UIW	The Woodlands, Texas	Sr.	3.84	Psychology
P	Austin Dunlap *	Southeastern	Slidell, La.	Jr.	3.47	Business Administration
DL	Garrett Crawford ^C	Southeastern	Slidell, La.	Jr.	3.55	Computer Science
DL	Clifford Funderburk	A&M-Commerce	Forney, Texas	So.	3.79	Business Administration
DL	Perry Ganci ²	Nicholls	New Orleans, La.	Sr.	3.12	Business Administration
DL	Mason Kinsey	McNeese	Mansfield, Texas	Sr.	3.25	Masters, Criminal Justice
LB	Kelechi Anyalabechi *	UIW	Pearland, Texas	Gr.	4.00	MBA, Sport Management
LB	Kordell Williams *²	McNeese	Carencro, La.	Sr.	3.00	Masters, Criminal Justice
LB	Brennan Young ^C3	HCU	Conroe, Texas	Gr.	3.72	MBA, Marketing
DB	Chase Brown	Nicholls	Baton Rouge, La.	Gr.	3.00	MBA
DB	PJ Herrington	Northwestern State	Natchez, Miss.	Sr.	3.16	Health and Exercise Science
DB	Sean-Krystoff King	A&M-Commerce	Humble, Texas	So.	3.73	Computer Science
DB	Logan Scott	Nicholls	Prairieville, La.	So.	3.05	Computer Information Systems

* = First Team All-Conference
C = College Sports Communicators Academic All-District
# = Multi-time selection

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