December 11, 2024

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Three North Star Athletic Association football athletes had been listed on the 2024 America Football Coaches Association-NAIA Football All-America teams, announced Wednesday morning.  The AFCA recognizes the first and second teams, while the NAIA adds in the third team honors.

The AFCA has selected an All-America team since 1945 and currently selects teams in all five of its divisions.  What makes these teams so special is that they are the ones chosen exclusively by the men who knows the players the best – the coaches themselves.

Dickinson State (N.D.), who had won ten (10) consecutive North Star conference football titles, landed two athletes on the All-America list.  NSAA Football Defensive Player-of-the-Year Jayden Heartwell was named to All-America First Team defensive back.

Nathaniel ‘Scotty’ Woodruff, the league’s Offensive Lineman of the Year, was named to the AFCA-NAIA Football All-America Second Team offensive line.

Deveon Moses of Dakota State (S.D.) was named to AFAC-NAIA All-America First Team defensive back.

Heartwell, Woodruff, and Moses were named to the NSAA Football All-Conference First Team selection last month.

The AFCA’s NAIA All-America Selection Committee is made up of two head coaches from each of the AFCA’s seven districts, one of who serves as a district chairman, along with another head coach who serves as the chairman of the selection committee.  The coaches in each district are responsible for ranking the top players in their respective districts prior to a conference call between the district chairmen and the committee chairman on which the team is chosen.