CoSIDA Academic All-America Football Team

St. Ambrose defensive lineman Ryan Zitkus was named to the prestigious 2020-21 Academic All-America Football Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Zitkus was named to the first team.

The CoSIDA Academic All-America Team is comprised of student-athletes from NAIA institutions, and are selected based on the students' work on the field and in the classroom. Nominees must be starters or important reserves, sophomores or older, with at least 3.30 cumulative grade point averages.

The 26-member team posted a 3.807 average GPA.

Zitkus, from Bloomington, Ill., finished his Bee career 10th in program history with 11.5 career sacks. The two-time all-conference selection was named the NAIA National Defensive Player of the Week on Apr. 5, 2021, after recording four sacks in a 24-7 win at St. Francis (Ill.). 

Zitkus, who is pursuing his doctorate in Occupational Therapy at St. Ambrose, is the first Fighting Bees football player to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors since Matt Cotiguala, Ryan Moredock and Patrick Smith earned first-team honors in 2015.