Six NEFC Players Earn Academic All-America Honors
The New England Football Conference is represented by six players on the 2011 Capital One Academic All-America® Division III team, with two first team selections and four selections on the second team.
Linebackers A.J. Albert from Salve Regina University and Mike Valentine of Western New England each captured spots on the first team. Albert is a senior business major from Franklin Park, N.J. who carries a 3.85 grade point average in Business. He was a first-team All-Boyd Division selection in 2011.
Valentine, also a senior, is a Mechanical Engineering major from Newington, Conn., with a 3.94 grade point average. He is the 2011 winner of the Jerry Nason Award for Senior Achievement given by the New England Football Writers.
Both Endicott and MIT placed two players on the second team. First team Boyd Division All-Conference selection Mike Lane and center Mike Zupkosky were the honorees from Endicott, while MIT placed offensive lineman Ethan Peterson and defensive lineman Tyler Wagner on the squad.
Lane, a running back, is a senior Criminal Justice major from Medifeld, Mass., with a 3.31 GPA. Zupkosky, who like Lane is a senior Criminal Justice major, has a 3.70 grade point average and is from Westford, Mass.
Peterson is a junior with a double major of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Physics. The Rutland, Vt. native carries a 3.84 GPA and was a Boyd All-Division selection in 2011. Wagner, the winner of the 2011 NEFC Hal Chalmers Award to the senior scholar-athlete of the year carries a 3.60 average in Chemical Engineering. He is from Bel Air, Md.
The 25 members of the Capital One Academic All-America® Division III first team have a combined average of 3.83.
