ST. LOUIS -- Eight Fighting Hawks were named to the 2021 Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) All-Academic Team on Tuesday morning, as announced by the league office. 

Nominees must be starters or important reserves; must have participated in at least 50 percent of his team's games and carry a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.20 (on a 4.0 scale). Nominees in graduate school must have a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or better both as an undergrad AND in graduate school.

Additionally, nominees must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution and must have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. True freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible athletic transfers are not eligible. Graduate students who are competing at a different institution than the one from which they earned their undergraduate degree are eligible even if they are in their first semester at the graduate institution. League sports information directors voted on the team by designating 11 players for first-team honors and 11 players for second-team honors.

Four of the eight selections are two-time honorees, led by offensive lineman Matt Waletzko earning First Team All-Academic accolades for the second straight year. Punter Cade Peterson also was a repeat selection, having been named to the second team for back-to-back campaigns. Joining Peterson on the second team is quarterback Tommy Schuster for his first honor. 

Running back Luke Skokna and linebacker Caden White both earned honorable mention selections for the second straight season while offensive lineman Ben Christian, defensive lineman Chandon Pierre and tight end Adam Zavalney were selected as honorable mentions for the first time. 

The eight selections are tied with North Dakota State for the most in the league, with UND having claimed the MVFC's All-Academic Award with the highest GPA in league history for the 2020-21 academic year back in July.