CoSIDA – Five University of Dayton football players – offensive guard Nick Bart, linebacker Anthony Best, running back Jake Chisholm, safety Brandon Easterling and defensive end Nate Obringer – were named today to the Academic All-District 5 team, as selected by CoSIDA.

All five will appear on the ballot for the All-America team this year.

Due to the pandemic, Academic All-America nomination criteria for fall sport teams were based on career statistics.

Dayton's five All-District selections were the most in District 5.  Purdue had 3, while Ball State, Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan, Notre Dame, Toledo and Western Michigan each had two.  Illinois State, Indiana, Miami, Michigan, Northwestern, Valparaiso and Youngstown State all had one district selection.

UD's five district selections were more than the rest of the Pioneer Football League combined (3).

Bart, a senior offensive guard from South Barrington, Ill., graduated cum laude this spring from UD.  He started all 11 games for the highest scoring FCS offense in 2019 (42.6 ppg.).  He was a four-time member of the PFL Academic Honor Roll, and a member of the National Football Foundation's 2021 Hampshire Society.  He carried a 3.53 GPA as a double major in Business Economics and Entrepreneurship.

Best played in 21 games in his career, starting 11.  He had 87 career tackles (39 solo), with four pass break ups, two stops in the backfield and an interception.  Hailing from Park Hills, Ky., he graduated summa cum laude and was co-winner of the Harry F. Finke, 1902, Award of Excellence to the Outstanding Senior in Civil Engineering.  Best was a four-time member of the PFL Academic Honor Roll, and a member of the National Football Foundation's 2021 Hampshire Society.

A junior pre-med major with a 3.98 GPA, Chisholm was a Second Team Academic All-American (one of two sophomores named Academic All-America) in 2019.  He led FCS in all-purpose yardage (204.3 yards a game) in 2019, and was named First Team All-PFL after finishing second in rushing (112.9) by .02 yards a game.  He led qualified PFL rushers in yards per carry (7.4).  The Union, Ky. native has minors in Biology, Chemistry and Medicine In Society.  He has already been named a team captain in 2021.

Easterling was a 2019 FCS All-American by HERO Sports, the Walter Camp Foundation, Associated Press and STATS FCS.  He was a finalist for FCS Stats' Buck Buchanan Award, which goes to the top defensive player in FCS.  The Fairborn, Ohio native led FCS in solo tackles (7.5) and was second in total tackles (12.7) by 0.058 tackles per game...His nine turnovers acquired (six interceptions, three fumbles) were the most in FCS football in 2019.  Easterling was a 2020 NFF Campbell Trophy semifinalist, and has already been named a 2021 captain.  He has a 3.46 GPA in Management Information Systems and is minoring in Cyber Security Management. 

Obringer is a two-time CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District selection.  In 2019, he was First Team Academic All-PFL and was also second among PFL lineman in tackles per game (5.2). The Lebanon, Ohio product was named to the PFL Academic Honor Roll four times and was a member of the National Football Foundation's 2021 Hampshire Society.  He was a double major in Finance and Entrepreneurship, and graduated with a 3.68 grade point average.