Academic Aces - Solsma headlines Google Cloud squad

The awards' cadre continues to get larger and more prestigious for Morningside College's football program.

Senior quarterback Trent Solsma (SR/Dakota Dunes, SD) (Dakota Dunes, S.D.) was named the Google Cloud/selected by the Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) college division Academic All-America of the Year with the team's announcement Thursday, Dec. 13.

Solsma boasts a 3.68 cumulative GPA, studying American history and world history. He's guided the top-ranked Mustangs to a 14-0 record, an appearance in the NAIA football national championship game and the Great Plains Athletic Conference championship. The Maroon completed the season with a 34-game league winning streak and a 29-game regular-season winning string and face seventh-ranked Benedictine College at 5 p.m. CST Saturday (Dec. 15) in Daytona Beach, Florida, for the national title. This year, the Dakota Dunes native tops the NAIA in passing yardage (5,097), passing yards per game (364.1), total offense (5,040) and passing efficiency (199.9) while leading the NAIA's top offensive attack in scoring (754 points), total offense (571.5 yards per game) and passing yards (5,361 yards and 382.9 yards per game). Solsma has thrown for 68 touchdowns, an association single-season record, with a 72.6 percent completion percentage and only six interceptions. His career numbers include 13,739 passing yards, 161 scoring passes, and a 69.7 percent competition percentage. He has established GPAC career records in passing yards and touchdown passes.

Solsma's 2018 accolades are numerous. They include being named to the American Football Coaches Association NAIA All-America first team, Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Offensive Player of the Year, Tier 2 Sports All-Region, two GPAC and NAIA Offensive Player of the Week honors and Google Cloud Academic All-District 3 first team.

He was one of three student-athletes from head coach Steve Ryan's squad that were honored. Fellow senior Conner Niles (Sioux City, Iowa), as a wide receiver, and junior linebacker Jacob Katzer (JR/Wellsville, KS) (Wellsville, Kan.) were also first-team selections. Niles is a biology major and carries a 3.36 grade-point average, and Katzer is a biology major with a 4.00 GPA.

Morningside's three selections run the football team's total to 14 all-time. The athletic department itself, with the additional honors received by senior women's soccer player Merle Bublitz (Burgwedel, Germany) and junior men's soccer player Pascal Kutschera (Landsburg, Germany) earlier this season, has had three-or-more Google Cloud Academic All-American selections every year since 2011.