SAN ANTONIO — UTSA seniors Lucas Dean and Ahofitu Maka have been named to the 2022 Academic All-District® Football Team as selected by College Sports Communicators.
Maka made the academic all-district team for the third consecutive year while Dean earned the recognition for the second straight season.
The 2022 Academic All-District® Football Team, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes football honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot. First- and second-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in late December.
Dean boasts a 3.88 cumulative GPA as an economics major and is set to earn his bachelor's degree this December. A 2021 C-USA All-Academic Team selection, the Australian is a two-time C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal recipient and a three-time C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll member. He has landed on the UTSA President's List (4.0 semester GPA) three times, and twice each on the Dean's List (3.75-3.99 semester GPA) and Honor Roll (3.50-3.74 semester GPA).
On the field, the two-time all-conference performer is averaging 44.6 yards on 32 punts with 10 of 50-plus yards and 12 inside the 20-yard line. Dean enjoyed a career day in the 52-24 win over Texas Southern, breaking his own school record with a 76-yard punt late in the contest. He also had kicks of 67 and 52 yards and averaged 60.5 on four punts in that contest to smash his own UTSA single-game standard of 51.2 set against North Texas last season. The Ray Guy Award preseason watch list member is the only Roadrunner with a punt of 70-plus yards, as he has three to his name. He owns five of the six longest punts in school history and has improved his program record career average to 43.9, which ranks 13th among active FBS punters. He was the 2020 C-USA Special Teams Player of the Year and a second-team Sporting News All-American as a sophomore.
Maka earned his bachelor's degree in cyber security in August with a 3.78 cumulative GPA, and he has started his master's program in management of technology. He was named a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, becoming the third Roadrunner to earn that illustrious distinction. A 2021 C-USA All-Academic Team selection, the Honolulu, Hawai'i, native is a three-time C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll member and a C-USA Academic Medal recipient, He has landed on the UTSA President's List and Honor Roll three times apiece and the Dean's List once.
On the field, Maka has been second-team all-conference selection in each of the last two years, starting 48 career games with 47 at center. He has been a key leader for an offense that is averaging a league-leading 38.3 points and 480.9 yards per game. Maka, who received an invitation to play in the 2023 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, has not surrendered a sack or hit on the quarterback in 474 pass-blocking snaps, owns a 98.4% pass-blocking efficiency and has only committed four penalties in 815 plays according to Pro Football Focus. Dating back to the start of the 2020 season, the Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy preseason watch list member has allowed only two sacks in nearly 1,400 pass-blocking snaps, helping pave the way for a record-setting offense.
The UTSA football program has five student-athletes who have received CoSIDA Academic All-District® recognition. This year's selections also give UTSA 11 total CoSIDA Academic All-District® certificates in its football history.
Hunter Duplessis was a 2021 Academic All-American and a two-time academic all-district honoree in 2020-21. Nate Leonard earned the last of three straight academic all-district honors in 2014 and also was named a first-team Academic All-American in 2014 and a second-team honoree in 2013. Eric Soza was a first-team academic all-district pick in 2013.
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