GREENWOOD, Ind.  Eight student-athletes from Western Colorado's NCAA football playoff program have earned inclusion on the College Sports Communicators (CSC, formerly CoSIDA) 2025 Academic All-District® NCAA Division II Football Team, as announced by the organization Tuesday morning.

Drew Nash and Chance Wiening, from the offensive side of the ball, are joined on the prestigious list by defensive players Ricky Freymond, Drew Johnson, Ian Loomis, Kade Musser, Blake Nieslanik and Nate Scharnhorst.

Recognized separately in four divisions — NCAA DI, NCAA DII, NCAA DIII and NAIA — nominees for the All-District® teams must have a "minimum grade point average of 3.50 and meet high athletic standards," according to the CSC Academic All-America® program website. Nominees are submitted by communication directors at each institution.

Members of the Academic All-America® committee select individuals from the All-District® team who advance onto the All-America® ballot, and the Mountaineers advanced Nash, Wiening and Loomis to that ballot, which is then voted on by the communication directors in each division, with CSC announcing first-, second-, and third-team Academic All-America® honorees on January 27.

All eight Mountaineers have already earned academic honors this season from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Nash — voted the 2025 RMAC Academic Player of the Year on offense — Wiening, Freymond, Johnson, Loomis, and Musser were voted to the RMAC All-Academic first team, while Nieslanik and Scharnhorst were named to the RMAC Academic Honor Roll.

Nash, Wiening and Freymond were also voted to the 2024 RMAC All-Academic first team, and both Nash and Wiening would later be voted to the first team of the 2024 CSC Football Academic All-America® Team for DII.