AUSTIN, TEXAS -- The Trine University football team has already accumulated several individual postseason awards for an outstanding season on the field, but those recognitions have also carried over into the classroom as senior quarterback Evan Wyse (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) has been named second-team Academic All-American as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
[2017 CoSIDA Academic All-American Teams]
Wyse becomes the third Thunder player to earn Academic All-American honors and the first since Aaron Wolf who garnered first-team honors in 2014.
Wyse had a standout senior season that was capped by being named the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association "Offensive Player of the Year" as well as first-team All-MIAA. Wyse ended the season with 1,180 rushing yards on 154 attempts to average 7.7 yards per carry. He also scored 14 touchdowns on the ground and averaged just under 100 yards rushing per game for the season (98.3 ypg.). His 1,180 rushing yards and 14 rushing TD were the second most on the team and was also one of two players to gain 1,000 yards or more rushing, becoming the first time in program history that Trine has had two players with 1,000 yards or more.
His rushing yard total was the fourth most by a Trine player in a single season and he also ranked third in a single season in both rushing TD (14) and average yards per rush (7.7).
Through the air, Wyse completed 80-of-139 passes (57.6 percent) for 1,658 yards with 18 TD passes and only five interceptions. He ended the season with a 193.29 pass efficiency and averaged 11.9 yards per pass, both of which were single-season school records.
Overall, Wyse scored or assisted in 32 total touchdowns (18 passing and 14 rushing) to rank second most in a season. In addition, he averaged 236.5 yards of total offense during the season to rank fourth best all-time and ranked in the top-10 in a season in points scored (7th - 84) and touchdowns scored (5th - 14).
As a team, Wyse helped lead the Thunder to rank 15th in NCAA Division III in total offense that averaged 475.0 yards per game, including having the fourth best rushing offense at 329.6 yards per game, and the sixth overall scoring offense with 44.3 points per game. The Trine offense set several single-game records this fall that included total rushing yards (3,955), rushing attempts (624), rushing TD (48), average yards per rush (6.34), rushing yards per game (329.6), pass efficiency (186.7 percent) and average yards per pass (11.6).
For his career, Wyse rushed for 1,826 yards (7.3 ypc.) with 23 TD and averaged 70.2 yards per game. He also completed 106-of-193 passes (54.9 percent) for 1,961 yards with 18 TD tosses. As a rusher, Wyse ends his career seventh all-time in rushing (1,826), tied for fifth in rushing TD (23) and fourth in rushing yards per game (70.2). As a passer, he set all-time marks in pass efficiency (162.8 percent) and average yards per pass (10.2). Wyse also ranks ninth all-time in pass completions (106), tied for sixth in passing TD (18), seventh in pass completion percentage (54.9) and 10th in passing yards per game (75.4).
Additionally, Wyse ranks fifth all-time in total offense per game (145.7 yards) and ninth in TD scored (23).
The Thunder finished the 2017 regular season 10-0 (11-1 overall) and were the MIAA Champions. It marked the third time in program history that Trine posted an undefeated regular season (2017, 2010, 2008) and fourth MIAA Championship (2008, 2009, 2010, 2017).