AFCA Release

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's University senior wide receiver Dylan Wheeler (St. Paul, Minn./Mounds View) was named a nominee for the 2025 Allstate American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Good Works Team on Tuesday, July 15.

Wheeler is one of 197 nominees for the 2025 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. Nominees are drawn from the ranks of NCAA Division I, II and III, as well as NAIA programs. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the award, which was established in 1992 to recognize a select group of college football players who have made a commitment to service and enriching the lives of others.

The nominees were submitted by athletic communication professionals across the nation on behalf of their schools. Comprised of 11 players from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, 11 players from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (Divisions II, III and the NAIA) and one honorary head coach, the final roster of 23 award recipients will be unveiled in September. A special voting panel consisting of former Allstate AFCA Good Works Team members and prominent college football media members will select the 2025 Good Works Team. 

Each of the Johnnies' last seven nominees were named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and SJU has eight honorees overall: linebacker Jake Schwinghammer '25, wide receiver Jimmy Buck '23, defensive lineman Michael Wozniak '22, quarterback Chris Backes '21, offensive lineman Ben Bartch '20, quarterback Jackson Erdmann '19 and wide receiver Will Gillach '19. Defensive end Kevin McNamara '07 was the first SJU student-athlete to receive the honor in 2006. The full list of SJU's nominees/honorees is below.

A 2024 consensus All-American – American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) first team, Associated Press first team, D3football.com third team, Walter Camp first team -  Wheeler ended the season second in NCAA Division III in receiving touchdowns (21), eighth in total points scored (126) and total touchdowns (21), 14th in receptions per game (7.3) and 15th in scoring (10.5 ppg.). He recorded over 100 receiving yards in seven of his team's 12 games and led SJU in receptions (88) and receiving touchdowns (21), and finished second with 1,164 receiving yards. 

The 21 receiving touchdowns were second-most in program history, one behind the record of 22 set by Blake Elliott '03 - a 2025 College Football Hall of Fame inductee - in 2002, while the catches ranked third and the receiving yards were 10th. Wheeler enters his senior season fourth in program history in 100-yard receiving games (10), sixth in receiving touchdowns (31), eighth in receptions (149) and 12th in receiving yards (2,007).

An accounting and finance (double-major) with a 3.64 GPA, Wheeler was named to the 2024 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America second team in addition to CSC Academic All-District and Academic All-MIAC (minimum 3.5 GPA) honors.

Wheeler organized a fundraiser during the 2024 football season for Folds of Honor to provide academic scholarships for the children and spouses of America's fallen or disabled military members and first responders (left). He developed a performance-based donation system that raised over $25,000 from almost 30 different donors. Wheeler is currently working to expand the project with other SJU student-athletes across all sports and establish the fundraiser as a new tradition.

Wheeler will serve as SJU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) president for the upcoming 2025-26 academic year, which will be his third as a member of the organization. He was SAAC's Diversity & Inclusion Committee Chair in 2024-25 and as a member of the organization's Kids Fighting Hunger Committee in 2023-24. Wheeler helped raise over $35,000 and organized a food-packing event on campus that produced nearly 100,000 meals that year.

He spent a week in March 2024 on an SJU Faith Service and Immersion trip to the Bahamas and volunteered at a local elementary school, building picnic tables for the students and playing bocce ball with a local Special Olympics group. Wheeler also cleaned up the grounds of a convent of Benedictine Sisters, doing yardwork and taking out garbage.

Wheeler is in his fourth year raising money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as a member of the SJU football team. The Johnnies raised $63,700 last fall, the program's 10th year supporting the organization. 

The Johnnies report to campus on Friday, Aug. 15, with their first practice scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16. SJU opens the 2025 season with a 1 p.m. kickoff Sept. 13 against Minnesota-Morris – the first of six home games this fall – in Clemens Stadium.

SJU's Allstate AFCA Good Works Team Nominees/Honorees Since 2006
2025 - Wide Receiver Dylan Wheeler '26
2024 - Linebacker Jake Schwinghammer '25 (Allstate AFCA Good Works Team)
2023 - Wide Receiver Jimmy Buck '23 (Allstate AFCA Good Works Team)
2022 - Defensive Lineman Michael Wozniak '22 (Allstate AFCA Good Works Team)
2021 - No Nominee
2020 - Quarterback Chris Backes '21 (Allstate AFCA Good Works Team)
2019 - Offensive Lineman Ben Bartch '20 (Allstate AFCA Good Works Team)
2018 - Quarterback Jackson Erdmann '19 (Allstate AFCA Good Works Team)
2017 - Wide Receiver Will Gillach '19 (Allstate AFCA Good Works Team)
2016 - Linebacker Carter Hanson '17 
2015 - Offensive Lineman Ben Brown '16 
2014 - Offensive Lineman Alex Jarosz '15 
2013 - Running Back Colin Moynihan '14 
2012 - Running Back Stephen Johnson '13 
2011 - Defensive Back Andrew Rotschafer '11 
2010 - Linebacker John Stanton '10 
2009 - No Nominee
2008 - Running Back Jeff Schnobrich '09 
2007 - No Nominee
2006 - Defensive Lineman Kevin McNamara '07 (Allstate AFCA Good Works Team)