ST. LOUIS—Five South Dakota Coyotes were voted to the 2021 All-Missouri Valley Football Conference Team as selected by the league’s head coaches, sports information directors and members of the media.
Senior linebacker Jack Cochrane and junior long snapper Dalton Godfrey are first-team selections. Junior left tackle Alex Jensen, senior safety Elijah Reed and senior punter Brady Schutt are second-team selections. It is the third time in five years USD has had at least five all-MVFC honorees.
In addition, five Coyotes were named honorable mention: redshirt-freshman running back Travis Theis, senior tight end Brett Samson, senior rush backer Jacob Matthew, sophomore return specialist Wesley Eliodor and redshirt-freshman all-purpose back Carter Bell.
Schutt (Orange City, Iowa) joins Darin Greenfield as the Coyotes’ three-time all-Valley honorees. He concludes a five-year playing career with a program-record punting average of 43.2 yards per boot. Schutt has ranked fourth in the FCS in punting average each of the last two years. He is 10th this year with a 44.2 average due in part to a league-best 25 punts pinned inside the 20. No other Valley punter had a higher percentage of pins. He also drew a fair catch on 30 of his 58 punts this season.
South Dakota finished its season with a 7-5 record which includes a program-best 5-3 mark in Valley play. The Coyotes advanced to the NCAA playoffs for the sixth time in program history, hosted its first FCS playoff game and competed in the FCS playoffs for the second time.
