NATCHITOCHES – Sophomore Chris Zirkle and redshirt freshman Ryan Reed represented Northwestern State Monday on the 2016 Southland Conference Football All-Academic Team.

Zirkle, an offensive lineman, has a 4.0 grade point average in business administration. Reed, a safety, carries a 3.87 GPA in industrial engineering.

They were among an elite group of 26 student-athletes from the 11 football-playing institutions in the Southland selected for the honor. Some automatically qualified, like Zirkle, for having received Academic All-District honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America. Others made the team by earning first-team All-Southland football honors and owning at least a 3.0 GPA, while the rest of the team was chosen in voting by conference head coaches, academic advisors and sports information directors.

NSU was among eight Southland football programs to place at least two student-athletes on the team.

Reed made 38 tackles, 31 of them solo. He blocked a kick, forced a fumble and broke up four passes. The 6-0, 193-pound St. Francisville-West Feliciana product ranked second among NSU defensive backs in tackles, and was sixth overall on the Demons' defense while playing a key reserve role in his first collegiate season, starting once.

Zirkle started one game in 2015 as a true freshman and became a full-time starter at guard this fall for NSU. He was the Demons' second-highest graded lineman, leading the offensive line twice in performance and ranking second six more times.

The 6-2, 296-pounder from Clear Springs High School in League City, Texas, posted the top grade (82 percent) as NSU rushed for 390 yards, the sixth-best single-game total in school history, at Lamar. His highest mark of the season, 85 percent, led the team in the next game against McNeese.

He won the NSU Athletic Department's Freshman Male Student-Athlete of the Year award for 2015-16 and earned membership in Alpha Lamda Delta national honor society recognizing academic excellence among freshmen students.

Stephen F. Austin senior safety Marlon Walls, an Academic All-American, was voted the Southland's Student-Athlete of the Year honor.

2016 Southland Football All-Academic Teams
 
Student-Athlete of the Year: Marlon Walls, Jr., DB, Stephen F. Austin
 
Offense

Pos.	Name	School	Cl.	GPA	Major
QB	Trent Brittain2	UIW	Grad.	3.34	Sports Management
RB	Adrian Duncan	Abilene Christian	Sr.	3.35	Kinesiology: Health Promotion
RB	Kade Harrington3	Lamar	Sr.	3.06	Finance
WR	Desmond Smith*3	Central Arkansas	Sr.	3.19	Biology
WR	Jatavious Wilson*	Central Arkansas	Sr.	3.33	Health Education
TE	Cody Dauksch	Central Arkansas	Grad.	3.70	Math
OL	Stockton Mallett*2	Central Arkansas	Jr.	3.13	Undecided
OL	Hunter Barron%2	Houston Baptist	Sr.	3.80	Accounting
OL	Chandler Arceneaux*	Nicholls	Jr.	3.13	Human Performance Education
OL	Brian Hernandez%	Nicholls	Sr.	3.77	Biology Pre-Med/Dentistry
OL	Chris Zirkle%	Northwestern State	So.	4.00	Business Administration
OL	John Cook^	Central Arkansas	Jr.	3.87	Biology
OL	Trevor Mason^	UIW	Grad.	4.00	Government
K	Luc Swimberghe	Sam Houston State	Grad.	3.37	Marketing

 
 
Defense

Pos.	Name	School	Cl.	GPA	Major
DL	John Franklin*2	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	3.254	Kinesiology
DL	Alex Jenkins	UIW	Sr.	3.25	Computer Information Systems
DL	Koby Couron	Lamar	Sr.	3.67	Mechanical Engineering
DL	Jake Grode	McNeese	Sr.	3.62	Business Administration
LB	Sam Denmark*%	Abilene Christian	Jr.	3.61	Engineering
LB	Tre' Bennett	Southeastern Louisiana	Sr.	3.075	General Studies
DB	Marlon Walls1&%2^	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	4.00	Engineering Physics
DB	P.J. Giddens%2	Sam Houston State	So.	3.76	General Business
DB	Daryl Irby3	UIW	Sr.	3.77	Business Administration
DB	Ryan Reed	Northwestern State	So.	3.87	Industrial Engineering
DB	Ahmad Muhammed	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	3.508	Business
P	Tyler St. Germain	Nicholls	Jr.	3.67	Finance

 
Automatic Selections:
* 2016 First Team All-Southland
^& CoSIDA Academic All-American
^% CoSIDA Academic All-District
^{^} FCS ADA Academic All-Star
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¹ Student-Athlete of the Year
² Two-time all-academic selection
³ Three-time all-academic selection
 
Note: FCS ADA Academic All-Stars are automatic SLC All-Academic selections, and were added in addition to the initial five offensive linemen, all of whom met other automatic selection criteria.