SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Shippensburg University's Brycen Mussina was named Friday afternoon to the 2021 NCAA Division II Academic All-America ® Football Second Team, distinguishing him as one of the nation's top student-athletes for his combined performance on the field and in the classroom.
 
Mussina graduated this past Saturday, earning his bachelor of science in geoenvironmental studies. He entered his final semester this fall with a 3.66 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) and graduated with a 3.67 cumulative GPA.
 
In 2021, Mussina ranked second in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in points responsible for (164, 25th in D-II entering playoffs) and third in the PSAC in passing yards (2,475), completions/game (17.9) and completion percentage (career-best 63.5, 22nd in D-II entering playoffs). He was a two-time PSAC Eastern Division Athlete of the Week who threw for 250 or more yards in five games, including a pair of 300-yard passing games. It was his third season as SU's starting quarterback.
 
Mussina graduated as Shippensburg's most accurate passer in school history (minimum 500 attempts), posting a 61.6 career completion percentage. He ranks second in school history for four major passing categories, having totaled 8,500 career passing yards, 73 career passing touchdowns, 662 career completions and 1,075 career attempts.
 
The Academic All-America ™ program is a prestigious honor that is annually conducted by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Its purpose is to recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and academically.
 
To qualify, a student-athlete must be a sophomore or older who maintains a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or higher and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games. All nominations are submitted by a school's sports information director.
 
There are four Division II Academic All-District™ Football teams, one for each of the NCAA's Super Regions. From those four teams (announced Nov. 18), an Academic All-America™ team comprised of 52 total honorees is selected annually.
 
Mussina is one of just two Division II quarterbacks to receive an Academic All-America ™ classification. Colorado School of Mines quarterback John Matocha was named the First Team honoree after leading the Orediggers to the national semifinals. He is a computer science major with a 3.73 cumulative GPA.
 
Mussina and fellow 2021 honoree Trey Paul are the 10th and 11th unique Academic All-Americans™ in school history. He is the second Academic All-America™ quarterback in school history along with Ryan Zapoticky (2017 Second Team). It is just the fourth time in school history that SU has had multiple Academic All-Americans™ in the same season (1982, 1995, 2017).
 
For more information about CoSIDA's Academic All-America® program, visit AcademicAllAmerica.com.
 
SHIP Football Academic All-Americans
11 Unique Academic All-Americans
15 Total Academic All-America Awards
 
1975
Tony Winter, LB (Second Team)
 
1976
Tony Winter, LB (First Team)
 
1982
Dave Butler, DL (First Team)
Dave Schanbacher, OL (Second Team)
 
1994
Joel Yohn, K (First Team)
 
1995
Joel Yohn, K (First Team)
Chris Bickel, DB (Second Team)
 
2003
John Kuhn, RB (First Team)
 
2004
John Kuhn, RB (First Team)
 
2011
Mike Frenette, RB (Second Team)
 
2012
Mike Frenette, RB (Second Team)
 
2017
Colin McDermott, RB (First Team)
Ryan Zapoticky, QB (Second Team)
 
2021
Trey Paul, DB (First Team)
Brycen Mussina, QB (Second Team)