SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference had three football players named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America teams, announced today (Dec. 1). Chattanooga's Derrick Craine was named to the first team, while The Citadel's Joe Crochet and Nick Jeffreys were all named to the second team.
A native of McDonough, Ga., Craine has a 3.61 grade-point-average as a Health & Human Performance major. He was a second-team Academic All-American honoree last year and is a two-time member of the Academic All-SoCon squad. This is the fourth Academic All-American honor for Mocs football. Davis Tull made the team in 2013 and 2014 to go with Craine's two awards. Craine needs 32 rushing yards for the 12th 1,000-yard season in school history. He is currently second in the SoCon with 96.8 yards per game and 10 rushing touchdowns.
Crochet, who last season became The Citadel's first first-team Academic All-American since 1989, is the first Bulldog to earn Academic All-America honors in consecutive years since 1976-78 when Academic All-America Hall of Famer Kenny Caldwell was recognized three straight years. Crochet earned his bachelor's degree in three years and will graduate with his MBA later this month. The Stone Mountain, Georgia, native has a 3.88 grade-point average in graduate school He was selected as a first-team All-Southern Conference performer after recording 38 tackles, including 12.5 for loss with 4.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two quarterback hurries in the regular season. His fumble recovery total is tied for second in the SoCon and 21st in FCS, his forced fumbles total is tied for sixth in the conference and his tackles for loss total ranks eighth in the SoCon. His 11.0 tackles for loss in conference play ranked second in the SoCon.
Jeffreys is majoring in civil engineering and boasts a 3.80 GPA. He has started all 11 games this season at right tackle and has made 13 career starts for the Bulldogs. This year, the offensive line has blocked for 10 individual 100-yard rushing performances and a school-record-tying five games with at least 400 yards rushing as a team. The Bulldogs average an FCS-leading 358.5 rushing yards per game, the second-highest average in all of Division I. The Citadel rushed for 500 yards in back-to-back games for the first time in school history earlier this season and has five of the top-19 single-game rushing totals in FCS this season, including 559 yards at North Greenville. The Bulldogs rank first in Division I with only two sacks allowed this season and lead the Southern Conference in eight different offensive categories, including time of possession and yards per completion that both rank second in FCS.
The Citadel earned the No. 6 seed in the FCS Playoffs and hosts 19th-ranked Wofford on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the second round of the playoffs. Chattanooga is on the road at Sam Houston State for a 3:00 p.m. kickoff.