Carbondale Reporter

Southern Illinois University (SIU) had three players named to the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) Scholar-Athlete team, the league announced on Tuesday. Offensive linemen Jacob Caughell and Chase Evans were named to the first team, while quarterback Nic Baker was selected for the second team.

Caughell started all 13 games at center for SIU and 24 games in the last two years. The Apopka, Florida native was a key part of an SIU offense that featured the school's all-time passing leader, Nic Baker, a 2,000-yard rusher Ro Elliott, and a 1,200-yard rusher Justin Strong. Caughell carried a 4.00 GPA in finance as an undergraduate and maintains a 4.00 in business administration in graduate school.

Evans started 12 games, missing one due to injury, and consistently graded out as SIU's top lineman with a 91% assignment rate, only one sack allowed, and 47 knockdowns. He was named the MVFC offensive lineman of the week at Murray State after grading out at 94 percent with six knockdowns. Evans had a 3.74 GPA in management as an undergraduate and holds a 4.00 in business administration in graduate school. He has started 38 games in his career.

Baker started all 13 games and guided SIU to an 8-5 record and its third playoff appearance in four seasons. He was the national Player-of-the-Week after passing for 462 yards and three touchdowns in a comeback win at SEMO. An eight-time MVFC Offensive Player of the Week in his career, he owns all major career passing records at SIU. Baker also holds SIU's single-game marks for passing yards (485 against Northern Iowa on October 29, 2022) and completion percentage (25-of-28 for .893 against Western Illinois on October 15, 2022).

Scholar-Athlete team nominees must be starters or important reserves; must have participated in at least half of their team's games; and carry a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.50 on a 4.0 scale. Nominees in graduate school must have maintained this GPA both as undergraduates and graduates.

Additionally, nominees must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution and completed at least one calendar year there. True freshmen, red-shirt freshmen, and ineligible athletic transfers are not eligible. Graduate students competing at a different institution from where they earned their undergraduate degree are eligible even if they are in their first semester at the new institution. League sports information directors voted on the team by designating eleven players for first-team honors and eleven players for second-team honors.