CoSIDA Academic All-District Release
REDLANDS, Calif. – The 2021 Academic All-District Football Team, selected by CoSIDA, was recently released recognizing the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
The University of Redlands Football team saw three players honored for the first time in their careers, which included seniors Kai Thompson (Murrieta, CA), Calhoun Helmberger (Tacoma, WA), and Jace Tessaro (Modesto, CA). The last Bulldog to earn CoSIDA academic recognition was Tight End Blake Roy (Camas, WA) (2019) who was named CoSIDA Academic All-District before becoming a CoSIDA Academic All-American. The year before that in 2018, Offensive Lineman Christian Godina (Phoenix, AZ) and Tight End Blake Roy were both named CoSIDA Academic All-District before Godina went on to become a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Thompson, Helmberger, and Tessaro are three of twenty-nine student-athletes among District Eight's Division III team.
Thompson had a remarkable year in the backfield for the Bulldogs. He carries a 3.90 GPA and is graduating with a degree in Religious Studies. This year he carried the ball 118 times for 620 yards, averaging 62 YPG, and a 5.3 YPC average to go with nine touchdowns. He also had nine receptions out of the backfield for 68 yards and threw one pass, which resulted in a touchdown as he earned 1st Team All-SCIAC accolades. Over his career he has been a three-time member of the SCIAC All-Academic team and was a Redlands Scholar-Athlete in 2019-20.
Helmberger anchors the offensive line as the center. He has a 3.86 GPA and is majoring in Political Science (National Security Policy). The team this year averaged 394.6 yards per game (193.2 Rushing | 201.4 Passing) to go with 36 Points Per Game. He protected a quarterback who threw for 1787 Yards, 12 Touchdowns, and was named the SCIAC Offensive Athlete of the Year. He blocked for six 100-yard rushers on the team, which included a 1st Team-All-SCIAC performer and never allowed a sack all season. He was named 1st Team All-SCIAC, was a four-year starter, was the 2020 NFF William V. Campbell Trophy Semi-Finalist, is a four-year member of the SCIAC All-Academic team and is a three-time Redlands Scholar-Athlete.
Tessaro helped lead one of the toughest defensive units in Division III as a defensive back. He holds a 3.82 GPA and is majoring in Healthy, Medicine and Society. This season he finished with 65 tackles (33 solo/32 assisted), averaging 6.2 tackles per game. 5 of them were for a loss, combining for 10 yards and added a pass break-up. He is a two-time Academic Team selection from SCIAC and was named a Redlands Scholar-Athlete in 2019-20.
First-team Academic All-District honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America ballot. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America honorees will be announced in early December. Players must hold a cumulative 3.30 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and have played in at least 50 percent of their team's games to be nominated for recognition. Voting is conducted by sports information directors in each respective region, with First Team All-District honorees advancing to a national ballot voted on by members of the Academic All-America committee.
These three Bulldogs join a pair of Stags from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, including Jacob Lyle (Offensive Lineman) and Dylan Porter (Linebacker) as the only members of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) to be recognized on the Academic All-District team for 2021.