ST. LOUIS, Mo. – For the second consecutive season, the University of North Dakota has earned the Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Academic Award, the league offices announced Thursday afternoon.

"We are tremendously honored to be receiving this prestigious award from the conference," said Athletic Director Bill Chaves. "This type of recognition certainly validates our student-athletes' effort not as just an athlete but primarily as a student. Congratulations to our team, coaching staff and support staff who all played a huge role in winning this honor for a second consecutive year."

In 2005, the Conference introduced an All-Academic Award to recognize team academic achievement. The award is based on the average student-athlete grade-point average for the previous academic year. GPA calculations include all student-athletes who compete, practice or receive athletic aid during the academic year.

North Dakota football student-athletes led the way in the MVFC with a 3.222 grade point average, trailed by Indiana State (3.214) and North Dakota State (3.124). The Fighting Hawks set a conference record 3.383 grade point average in 2020-21 and the GPA of 3.222 this year ranks No. 3 all-time in the MVFC, with only Southern Illinois in between the two squads with a GPA of 3.310 in 2020-21. Prior to this season, the 3.000 threshold has only been passed 12 times in league history.

"We take great pride in performing at a high level in all aspects of our responsibilities as college athletes," Coach Bubba Schweigert said. "Our players have put forth great effort in the classroom along with the support and guidance from Andres Freeman and Kelsey Wattenhofer from our academic support staff. They have accepted the challenge to manage time demands to develop as players while taking care of their athletic performance."

The UND football program had 32 student-athletes who recorded a grade point average this past term of 3.5 or higher, with seven student-athletes recording a perfect 4.0. This spring semester marked the 28th consecutive semester with a 3.0 overall department GPA. The football team had 13 players on the UND President's List, while nine players represented the squad on the UND Dean's List. Six North Dakota student-athletes were named to the 2021 MVFC All-Academic Teams.