AUSTIN, Texas – For the third consecutive season, University of Dayton football players Tucker Yinger and David Leisring have been named Google Cloud Academic All-Americans, as selected by CoSIDA.  Yinger was a repeat selection on the first team, while David Leisring was named to the second team.  Both were on the second team in 2016.

This is the third straight year Dayton has tied for the most Division I Academic All-Americans.  UD is one of 11 schools to have two Division I Academic All-Americans.  In 2017, the Flyers were one of three schools to have three, and 2016, one of two schools to have three.

Yinger is ninth University of Dayton player to be named a First Team Academic All-American at least twice.  The others are Christopher Beaschler, Brandon Cramer, Greg French, Steve Lochow, Tim Quinn, Dan Rosenbaum and Brandon Wingeier.  Wingeier in the only Dayton student-athlete to be named to the first team three times.

Yinger, who was a first team selection in 2017 and a second team selection in 2016, will graduate on Saturday with a 3.81 GPA in Mechanical Engineering.  He was this season's Pioneer Football League Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was the first Dayton player to be named First Team Academic All-PFL four times.
 
He became the first Dayton runner to post two 1,000-yard seasons when he ran for more than 200 yards in each of his last three games and finished with 1,340 yards.  He set the Dayton career records for rushing yards (3,757), yards-per-carry (6.3) and all-purpose yards (4,468).  Yinger also expanded his game, setting career highs in receptions and passing yardage by the season's sixth game.  For the year, he had 22 catches for 390 yards, and his 17.7 yards-per-catch average led the team.  

Yinger led the PFL in yards per carry (7.6, third in FCS) and all-purpose yardage (157.3 yards per game, sixth in FCS), and was second in in the PFL in yards per game (121.8, eighth in FCS).

A 2016 Second Team Academic All-American and a 2017 First Team Academic All-American, Leisring led the Flyers in tackles and interceptions for the second consecutive season.  This year he had 90 total tackles and 49 solo hits, with three interceptions.  He also forced a team-high two fumbles and broke up three passes.  

Leisring was a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's Campbell Trophy, which is sometimes referred to as the "Academic Heisman."  He has a 3.74 cumulative grade point average while majoring in Finance.  He is also Vice-President of UD's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

This brings the total for Dayton football Academic All-Americans to 61 since the first one in 1970.  The Flyers have had 31 since 2000.

 This is also the 35th time a Flyer football player has been named a First Team Academic All-American.  The others are Tim Quinn, Scott Terry, Greg French, David Kemp, Jeff Slayback, Gerry Meyer, Brett Cuthbert, Dan Rosenbaum, Steve Lochow, Brad Mager, David Overholser, Josh Lemmon, Jacob Jones, Jimmy Lee, Mark Kasmer, Mary McNamara, Doug Jones, Nick Sellett, Brandon Cramer, Bart Bergfeld, Patrick McCormick, Brandon Wingeier, A.J. Kaltenbach, Steve Wirkus, Chris Beaschler and David Leisring.

 Among schools playing Division I football, only Nebraska (107) and Penn State (65) have had more Academic All-Americans than Dayton's 61.  The Flyers are tied with Notre Dame at 61.  Ohio State (55) and Oklahoma (52) are next.

 In order for a student-athlete to be eligible for Academic All-American recognition, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve and maintain a cumulative G.P.A of 3.30 (on a scale of 4.00).