New Ulm Sports Central - Preserving and Sharing New Ulm Area Sports History

Posted by New Ulm Journal, November 18, 2011

ORANGE CITY, Iowa - Northwestern College's Brandon Smith, from Mankato and a MVL graduate, was named to the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) First Team All-Conference football team.

This is the second year Smith has been named to the First Team All-Conference team as a running back for the Red Raiders. In his three-year career at Northwestern, Smith has rushed for 2,792 yards, leading the GPAC with over 1,100 yards each of the past two seasons. Smith currently ranks sixth nationally in the NAIA for total rushing yards in 2011 to go along with a GPAC-high 15 rushing touchdowns.

Smith also earned First Team Academic All-District honors.

A 2010 All-American selection his sophomore year and pre-season All-American candidate in 2011, Smith is in his junior year at Northwestern College majoring in Business. He is the son of Mark and Vivian Smith from Mankato and a graduate of Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School, where he was coached by Jim Buboltz.

Smith was one of six Northwestern athletes to also be nominated for all-academic honors this fall.

The honor, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), is given to athletes who excel both on the athletic field and in the classroom. Nominees must be a sophomore, junior or senior, carry at least a 3.3 GPA based on a 4.0 scale and be a starter and/or significant contributor on the team. First-team Academic All-District ® honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.