Conference USA placed 20 student-athletes on the 2024 College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-District Football Teams, announced by the organization Tuesday. (UTEP was thrown a bone with a league-topping 5 All-District selections, but none of them received nomination for Academic All-American–not one.)
A Las Cruces Digest Report
By Levi Gwaltney
Sources: Conference USA and College Sports Communicators
DALLAS – Conference USA placed 20 student-athletes on the 2024 College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-District Football Teams, announced by the organization Tuesday. UTEP led the way with five selections, followed by FIU and LA Tech with four each. Jax State garnered three spots on the list, and Liberty had a pair of honorees. MTSU and WKU each grabbed one slot.
The CUSA contingent included five members from the league’s academic all-league list in FIU’s Ross Fournet and Lexington Joseph, MTSU’s Nicholas Vattiato, and UTEP’s KD Johnson and Skyler Locklear.
Student-athletes selected as CSC Academic All-America® finalists are denoted with an asterisk and will advance to the national ballot to be voted on by CSC members. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced January 28.
2024 CSC Football Academic All-District Honorees
Ross Fournet, FIU
Lexington Joseph, FIU
Eric Rivers, FIU*
Jaheim Buchanon, FIU*
Will O’Steen, Jax State*
Geimere Latimer, Jax State*
Garrison Rippa, Jax State
TJ Bush, Liberty*
A’Khori Jones, Liberty
Patrick Rea, LA Tech
Judd Rouyea, LA Tech
Gabe Pugh, LA Tech*
Zach Zimos, LA Tech
Nicholas Vattiato, MTSU*
Josiah Allen, UTEP
Buzz Flabiano, UTEP
KD Johnson, UTEP
Skyler Locklear, UTEP
Brennan Smith, UTEP
Lucas Carneiro, WKU*
College Sports Communicators Academic All-American Nominees
College Sports Communicators was founded in 1957 and is a 4,400+ member national association for strategic, creative and digital communicators across intercollegiate athletics in the United States and Canada. The current name of the organization was adopted following a membership-wide vote on Aug. 31, 2022.
From its founding in 1957 until the 2022 name change, the organization was known as College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The name change signaled a major step in a larger strategic plan to highlight the association’s evolution and expansion. The move better aligns with the association’s membership makeup and further positions the organization to support and advocate for its members who serve in the communications, digital and creative college sports industry, regardless of position or title.
The organization, which celebrated its 65th year during the 2021-22 academic year, is the second oldest management association in all of intercollegiate athletics. College Sports Communicators became an affiliated partner with NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics) in December of 2008.
CSC’s membership first reached the 3,000 mark during the 2013-14 school year and has topped that threshold each year since with the exception of the 2020-21 Covid-19 pandemic year. The membership base reached 4,000 for the first time in 2022-23.
Prior to the formation of the organization as CoSIDA in the mid 1950s, sports information directors as a group were a part of the American College Public Relations Association. Most SIDs at those ACPRA meetings eventually felt that a separate organization was needed and that led to CoSIDA’s formation. There were 102 members at the original meeting/convention in 1957.
Voting for the Academic All-America Football teams begins Jan. 7, at Noon (ET) and closes Tuesday, Jan. 14, at 11:59 PM (ET). All CSC members are eligible to vote on the ballots in their division.
