AUSTIN, Texas --- Three Tusculum University student-athletes have been named to the NCAA Division II Football Academic All-District first team for Super Region 2 as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Jackson Cauthen and Andrew Cantrell return to the Academic All-District team for a second straight year, while offensive lineman Christian Coulter earns his inaugural CoSIDA accolade. The Tusculum trio will advance to the Academic All-America® team ballot, with the winners being announced July 13.
Cauthen, a native of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, graduated from Tusculum in May with summa cum laud honors with a 3.95 cumulative grade point average while majoring in nursing. He is a member of the South Atlantic Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll, Athletic Director's Honor Roll, Dean's List, President's List and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List. He is a member of the Alpha Chi Honors Society, Division II Athletic Directors Association Honor Roll and was selected to the National Football Foundation's Hampshire Honor Society. He was also tabbed the 2020-21 Tusculum University Nursing Major of the Year.
Cauthen was Tusculum's top tackler this past spring where he posted 36 tackles including five hits for loss, one sack and two pass break-ups. He posted a season-best 11 tackles in TU's 49-17 home win over Limestone in April, earning him SAC Defensive Player of the Week honors for a second time in his career. He also logged nine tackles and a pass break-up in TU's 28-23 win at Lenoir-Rhyne in the SAC Championship Game.
He has logged 117 tackles in his 24-game career, including 17 tackles for loss and two interceptions. In 2019, he led the Pioneers with 15 tackles for loss to go along with his 75 total tackles, earning him a spot on the All-SAC second team. Of his two picks that season, he returned one for a 31-yard touchdown against UNC Pembroke.
Cantrell, a junior from Sparta, Tennessee, also earns his second CoSIDA Academic All-District accolade. He has a 3.64 GPA while majoring in chemistry and pre-pharmacy and is a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Dean's List, Athletic Director's Honor Roll and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List. He was also named to the Division II Athletic Directors Association Honor Roll.
Cantrell has appeared in all 26 games of his collegiate career as Tusculum's punter where he is fourth in program history with 140 career punts, while his 5,287 career punting yards is third-most in the school record book. His 37.8 yards per punt average is ninth-best in TU history and has accounted for 40 punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line (3rd in TU history).
This spring, Cantrell averaged 39.0 yards (5th in SAC) on his 26 punts which included a conference-best nine kicks inside the 20-yard line. His 60-yard punt against Lenoir-Rhyne in April was a career-long and the second-longest in the conference this spring.
Coulter, a sophomore from Thomson, Georgia, started in all 16 career games at Tusculum on the offensive line, including five games this spring. He anchored the trenches for a Pioneer offense that led the Sac in total offense (533.4 ypg) including passing yards per game (394.2).
He has a 3.47 GPA while majoring in sports science and he was a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
Tusculum went 4-1 this spring and claimed the program's third South Atlantic Conference Championship and fourth overall league title in school history.
The Division II and III CoSIDA Academic All-America® programs are partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2020-2021 Divisions II and III Academic All-America® programs.
