Junior wide receiver Jacob Wenzlick of the Michigan Tech football team was named to the 2018 Don Hansen NCAA Division II All-American Third Team, announced Tuesday by the Don Hansen Football Committee. Wenzlick was selected for First Team All-Super Region Three Honors earlier this month, enabling him to advance to the national ballot for All-American consideration.
The Don Hansen team carries out the legacy of long-time small college football advocate Don Hansen, who passed away at age 75 on Aug. 29, 2010. Hansen, from Brookfield, Ill., started and published Don Hansen’s National Weekly Football Gazette for three decades, selecting NCAA Division II All-America teams for the first time in 1988. Don Hansen’s Football Gazette began selecting Division II All-Region squads in 2003.
Wenzlick, who hails from Meridian, Michigan, was also named First Team All-GLIAC, Alan Bovard Most Valuable Player (MTU), Offensive Back of the Year (MTU), and Outstanding Offensive Player (MTU) following an outstanding 2018 season. Wenzlick led the Huskies with 872 receiving yards while ranking fourth in the GLIAC this season. He shared the team lead in touchdown receptions with four, ranked third in the conference in receiving yards per game (87.2), and was second in the GLIAC in receptions per game (5.2). Wenzlick completed the season with 52 receptions, including a season-long 67-yard touchdown catch in the 2018 opener at Truman State.
Wenzlick also caused havoc for opponents on special teams with his ability to return kicks. Wenzlick led the conference in both combined kick return yards (873) and in all-purpose yards per game at 180.60. His combined yardage total was third-best in all of NCAA Division II while the all-purpose numbers ranked fourth in the nation. Wenzlick broke a single-season school record for kickoff return yardage with 819 this season. The previous record was 778 which was set by Robert Haynes in 2007. He closed the 2018 campaign with 1,806 all-purpose yards and was an All-GLIAC Second Team honoree following the 2017 season.
In the classroom, Wenzlick has been a GLIAC All-Academic Excellence/Academic Team honoree in each of the last three seasons. Wenzlick is majoring in Biomedical Engineering at Michigan Tech. For his combined performance on the field and in the classroom, Wenzlick was selected to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District® Football Team in NCAA Division II Super Region 3, picked by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
The official Don Hansen release can be viewed by clicking on the link at the top of the press release.
