Eastern Michigan Athletics

Van Hoeven All American

Van Hoeven Named First Team Academic All-American by CoSIDA

12/15/2021 12:01:00 PM | Football

EMU center is the first player in program history to collect first team honors

Complete Release from CoSIDA | EMU's All-time Academic All-Americans.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (EMUEagles.com) - Eastern Michigan University football senior center Mike Van Hoeven (Paw Paw, Mich.-Paw Paw) was named a First Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the national organization announced Wednesday, Dec. 15.

Van Hoeven, who boasts a 3.96 GPA, becomes the first EMU student-athlete in the football program's history to be named a First Team Academic All-American. Additionally, he is just the sixth player in Eastern Michigan history to collect first team honors joining Bob Owchinko (Baseball  - 1976), Tracy Deeter (Soccer  - 2001), Sarah Chrzanowski (Swimming - 2007), Sarah VanMetre (Women's Basketball  - 2007), and Jill Briner (Volleyball - 2014).

A Second Team Academic All-American in 2020, Van Hoeven joins Ken Bruchanski (Baseball - 1974 & 1975), Chrzanowski (2006 & 2007), Don Ellison (Swimming - 2008 & 2009), and Willy Fink (Men's Track/Cross Country - 2016 & 2017) as the only players in EMU history to garner the honor twice in a career.

One of the most reliable offensive lineman in the Mid-American Conference, Van Hoeven is the anchor for the EMU scoring unit. The team's center, Van Hoeven has started all 12 games for the Green and White this season, helping the offense to impressive levels of success in 2021.

Eastern Michigan's offense is one of the best scoring units in the Mid-American Conference in 2021. Averaging 31.0 points per game, EMU has put up 372 total points on 46 touchdowns, 15 field goals, and 45 extra points. In total, 14 different Eagles have found the pay dirt in 2021, including five players who have scored multiple touchdowns. Sophomore Samson Evans leads all Eagles and ranks fourth in the league with 12 touchdowns. That number is the seventh-most in a single season by any EMU player.

Senior quarterback Ben Bryant ranks first in the MAC and 12th nationally with a 69 percent completion clip in 2021. His 2,921 yards passing ranks second in the league and 29th in the country, while his 243.4 passing yards per contest sits at third in the MAC, and ranks 39th in the NCAA. Bryant's current completion percentage ranks second best for any Eastern player since the turn of the century. Only Andy Schmitt (72.8%) in 2007 has recorded a season with a better completion percentage since 2000. Bryant needs just 79 yards to hit the 3,000 mark this season. Only two other EMU signal callers have reached the rarified air - Charlie Batch (1997 - 3,280; 1995 - 3,177) and Mike Glass III (2019 - 3,169).

The 2021-22 Academic All-America® Division I Football Team features 14 members with a 4.00 GPA and 22 members with at least a 3.90 GPA as either undergraduate or graduate student-athletes. The 25-member first team have an average GPA of 3.72.

The 2021-22 Academic All-America® Division I Football Teams have 25 repeat honorees from the 2020, 2019 and 2018 teams including Kolar, Jake Chisholm (Dayton), Austin Williams (Mississippi State), Blaise Andries (Minnesota), Jake Dixon (Duquesne), Wes Genant (South Dakota State), Mike Van Hoeven (Eastern Michigan), Anders Carlson (Auburn), Thomas Booker (Stanford), Matt Henningsen (Wisconsin), Jack Gibbens (Minnesota), Silas Kelly (Coastal Carolina), Patrick Fields (Oklahoma), Kekaula Kaniho (Boise State), K.J. Smith (North Alabama), Noah Williams (Stanford), Brock Purdy (Iowa State), Ezra Gray, (Alabama State), Britain Covey (Utah), Austin Stidham (Troy), Juwuan Jones (Western Kentucky), Ryan Greenhagen (Fordham), Riley Whimpey (Boise State), Spencer DeMedal (Duquesne), and Robby Hauck (Montana). Kolar, Chisholm, Andries, Genant, Kaniho, Smith, Gray and DeMedal are three-time Academic All-America® selections.

In addition, the 2021-22 Academic All-America® football teams have seven members who are competing in the College Football Playoff: Desmond Ridder (Cincinnati), Alec Pierce (Cincinnati), Aidan Hutchinson (Michigan), Lorenz Metz (Cincinnati), Andrew Vastardis (Michigan), David Ojabo (Michigan) and Bryan Cook (Cincinnati).
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