Falcon punter Jovin Kroll (Sr., Poplar, Wis. Northwestern HS) has been named to the first College Sports Information Directors of America/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America college division football team.

Only 25 football student-athletes from across the nation in the NCAA Div. II, Div. III and the NAIA were selected to the first team. He is the only student-athlete from the WIAC named to the first or second team.

Earlier this year he was a unanimous selection to the first All-WIAC team.

"Jovin has won a fantastic award and he has been a phenomenal student-athlete," said Falcon Coach John O'Grady. "When he first came here I thought he was going to be blown over in wind at Ramer Field. He couldn't catch the ball and he just was not a good punter. But he became a starter for us and got better and better and better every year. He's always been a great student. He is one of a few of our players who over years have won this award and I've very proud and happy for him."

Kroll joins linebacker Mike Olson (1991) and offensive lineman Brian Izdepski (1995) as Falcons who have earned the same honor.

Kroll, 6-1, 176 pounds, led the WIAC in punting averaging 40.3 yards a kick. He had a long punt of 68 yards. Kroll was named the team's Special Teams Player of the Week five times this year and was named the WIAC Special Teams Player of the Week and to the D3football.com Team of the Week on Oct. 24. He earned the honor after he punted eight times and averaged 46.8 yards per kick in the team's 24-20 win over UW-Stout at Ramer Field. He had three punts over 50 yards with a long of 68, which was his career long. Stout returned just one punt for 10 yards. He had one punt downed inside the Stout 20. He also did all of the holding in Falcon extra points and field goals. The Falcons were 3-3 in extra points and 1-1 in field goals.

Kroll, an English education major who is working toward a minor in athletic coaching, has been involved in several campus organizations throughout his career. He has a 3.915 cumulative grade point average. He was a staff member of Prologue, the UWRF student literary publication and was a student representative in the English department's 2006 technical writing professor search and screen committee.

He has had two works published in the 2006 Wisconsin English Journal (Volume 48, Issue 1) - "There's Only One Thing Pedestrian about DeLong Middle School" and "The Bard and the Baritone on a Bus Tour." He earned the English department's Certificate of Merit for Advance Analysis in American Literature. He earned the Grace Bloom and Carl & Marion O'Connell Wurtz academic scholarships. Kroll has been named to the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll in 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 and has earned UWRF Dean's List honors in all eight semesters of attendance. He is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English and a member of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society.

He has been named the team's captain for 2006 games against St. Francis, Stevens Point and Whitewater. He has worked at the UWRF writing center tutor for three years. Kroll has experienced several hours of tutoring, observing and teaching in area public schools in the teacher education program.

The Academic All-America program honors male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, a student-athletes must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the programs inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

CoSIDA Web Site