MIAC Release

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Ten Saint John's University football student-athletes received 2018 Fall Academic All-MIAC recognition on Wednesday, Jan. 23.

Those honored (listed alphabetically) include: 

-Sophomore quarterback/holder Chris Backes (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech), an economics major with a 4.0 GPA;
-Senior linebacker Brandon Beranek (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral), an elementary education major with a 3.64 GPA;
-Senior linebacker Bryan Crossman (Eagan, Minn./Holy Angels), a mathematics and physics double-major with a 3.80 GPA;
-Sophomore offensive lineman Jarod Fike (St. Paul, Minn./White Bear Lake), a communication and psychology double-major with a 3.54 GPA;
-Sophomore defensive lineman Collin Franz (Otsego, Minn./Rogers), a Hispanic studies major with a 3.73 GPA;
-Senior wide receiver Will Gillach (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes), a biochemistry major (pre-medicine emphasis) with a 3.71 GPA;
-Senior safety Max Jackson (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall), an accounting major with a 3.55 GPA;
-Senior safety Sam Marshall (Marshall, Minn.), an accounting major with a 3.57 GPA;
-Junior linebacker Alex Sais (Los Lunas, N.M./St. Pius X), an accounting major with a 3.80 GPA;
-Junior wide receiver Andrew VanErp (Battle Lake, Minn./Ottertail Central), a biology major (pre-dentistry emphasis) with a 3.54 GPA.

In order to qualify for Academic All-MIAC recognition, student-athletes must be a sophomore, junior or senior with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. Athletically, football student-athletes must compete in 50 percent of their team's varsity, regular-season contests to qualify.

For the seventh consecutive year, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) honored a record number of fall sport student-athletes, 427 total, with Academic All-Conference recognition. 

The Academic All-MIAC honor is the third for Gillach, who earned Google Cloud Academic All-America and Academic All-District honors this fall. Beranek, Jackson and Sais joined Gillach on the Google Cloud Academic All-District team.

The Academic All-MIAC distinction was also the third for Marshall, and the second for Beranek and Jackson. Jackson is also a two-time honoree in baseball.

The Johnnies have now had 16 football Academic All-Americans in the last 15 seasons and 40 Academic All-District selections the past 14 years.

SJU (12-1, 8-0 MIAC) won the MIAC title for the first time since 2014, and made its fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs, ending the season ranked No. 3 nationally.