Football | 11/6/2014 5:16:00 PM
Moon Township, Pa. – Senior offensive lineman
Nick Faraci and senior wide receiver
Duane Mitchell of the
Robert Morris University football team were both named
Capital One Academic All-District First Team in an announcement made by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Thursday afternoon.
As a result of their first-team selections, both Colonials will now advance to the Academic All-America ballot.
This is second straight year that Faraci has earned this honor and the first such award for Mitchell as these two accolades continue the academic successes of RMU football student-athletes.
These honors give the Colonial program at least one Academic All-District honoree in each of the past 12 seasons, a span in which Robert Morris has taken home 23 overall selections. To put that in perspective, no other Northeast Conference (NEC) school has an active streak of football academic all-district selections longer than three years.
RMU football has also now had multiple student-athletes earn academic all-district honors in each of the past five years.
The Division I Academic All-District football teams encompass student-athletes from both the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). This means that Colonials were competing against athletes from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Big Ten, the Big 12, and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) to gain a spot on their district's 25-member team.
Faraci carries a 3.92 grade point average as a nursing major.
Faraci has started 30 consecutive games at center, the longest active streak on the Colonial offense. He has served as a captain in multiple games and, as the center, serves as an organizer of his teammates on the line in regard to pre-snap calls. Faraci has helped RMU rush for at least 160 yards in three games thus far this year, including a 214-yard effort against a team ranked among the top 25 nationally in rushing defense. Faraci also recovered a fumble in a game earlier this season, the second straight year that he has recovered a loose pigskin.
Faraci, who had the highest GPA among all FCS selections at any position in RMU's district, had one of the top eight GPA's nationally among all Division I offensive linemen named Academic All-District.
Mitchell has a 3.42 grade point average as a finance major and is also minoring in international business.
Mitchell leads the team in receptions (43), receiving yards (395) and receiving touchdowns (four). He has caught a pass in 30 consecutive games, which is tied for the RMU program record. Mitchell has moved into second place in career receptions (122) and receiving yards (1,699) at RMU despite not playing receiver at all his freshman year. He broke the single-season school record for receptions last year (52) and is on pace to break his own mark this year. Mitchell, who owns 26 career starts, is among the top 20 active FCS players in career yards per catch.
Mitchell ranks in the top five in both receptions and receiving touchdowns among the Division I wide receivers named Academic All-District.
With these selections, a total of 17 student-athletes from the RMU football program have earned All-District academic honors from CoSIDA. These 17 student athletes have combined for 28 overall selections. Faraci becomes the ninth Colonial to claim multiple selections of this type in a career while Mitchell is the first wide receiver in school history to garner Academic All-District honors.
Robert Morris will return home this Saturday, Nov. 8, as it takes on Wagner.
