Ellis and Monroe selected to Google Cloud Academic All-District VI football team

OLIVET, Mich. – Olivet College sophomore running back Matthew Ellis and senior offensive lineman Trenton Monroe have been selected to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District® VI Football Team, as selected by College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA). Both are now eligible to earn 2018 Google Cloud/CoSIDA NCAA Division III Academic All-America® honors, where first- and second-team selections will be announced in early December.

Ellis saw action in all 10 games for the Comets. He finished the season with 160 carries for 1,075 yards and 12 touchdowns, and caught 17 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns. The 1,075 rushing yards ranks third all-time at Olivet for a single-season, while the 84 total points is tied for second-most.

A 2018 All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Second Team selection, Ellis is an exercise science major. He was named to the 2017-18 MIAA Academic Honor Roll.

A two-year team captain, Monroe started Olivet's first game at tight end. He then stepped into a starting spot on the offensive line, playing three games at right tackle and the final six games at left guard. Monroe blocked for an offense that averaged 443.6 yards per game, including 200.0 in the air.

Earlier this week, Monroe received the MIAA's Pete Schmidt Scholar-Athlete Award, given to the top senior football player who has excelled on- and off-the-field. He was also an All-MIAA First Team selection.

Monroe is an actuarial science major and computer science minor. Off the field, he serves as a chief expansion and marketing officer for Gamma Iota Sigma, president of Mathletes and is a member of Adelphic Alpha Pi literary society. Sigma Zeta (mathematics and science honor society), Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and Global Citizen's Honors Program.

Monroe has been named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll three times and Dean's List every semester at Olivet. He has also done various community service projects, including volunteering at an elementary school in Costa Rica to build a program and organize the school.

The Academic All-District teams include student-athletes divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. Olivet is in District VI, which includes schools in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. This is the sixth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA participants. A new college division featuring Canadian and two-year schools will be introduced next spring.