GREENWOOD, Ind. – Minnesota State Moorhead seniors Gage Florence and Jack Strand have been named College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America® First Team, the organization announced Tuesday. Additionally, Strand was named the CSC Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year for NCAA Division II.
 
For Florence, it is his first CSC Academic All-America® honor. The Sawyer, N.D., native achieved a 3.65 cumulative GPA as an exercise science major at MSUM. Strand earns his second straight Academic All-America® nod and his first as First Team honoree. The Bloomer, Wis., native bolsters a 3.87 cumulative GPA as an engineering physics major. Strand is the first student-athlete in Minnesota State Moorhead history to be named a CSC Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year. 
 
On the field, Florence and Strand combined for eight All-NSIC selections and 13 All-America certificates in their careers. Florence holds the MSUM, NSIC and NCAA Division II records in pass receptions in a career. He also possesses the MSUM record for career receiving yardage. Strand holds every major MSUM passing record while also breaking the NSIC record in pass completions, pass yards and passing touchdowns. At the conclusion of his career, Strand was ranked 10^th all-time in NCAA Division II history in passing yardage.
 
The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2025-26 Division II Academic All-America® program. All four CSC Academic All-American Team Members of the Year will be prominently featured at the annual Maxwell Awards Gala March 14 at the Coca-Cola Roxy concert venue located in The Battery Atlanta.
 
It is incumbent upon CSC members to nominate the most outstanding student-athletes at their institution based on the criteria below.
 
Academic standing:
 

• Student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically.
• Nominee must be enrolled at their institution at the time of nomination as either an undergraduate or graduate student. Only the school at which an athlete competed in the current academic year can nominate that player.
• Student-athletes who have graduated from their own institution during the current academic year and are not competing in athletics at another institution at the time of nomination are eligible.

 
Academic eligibility:
 

• An undergraduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale).
• A graduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) as both an undergraduate and a grad student unless they are in their first semester as a graduate student and don't have an established graduate GPA.
• The cumulative grade point average may not be rounded up to 3.50.

 
Athletic eligibility: Sport-specific nomination criteria'
 
Student-athletes must compete in 90 percent of the institution's games played OR must start in at least 66 percent of the institution's games.