WACO, Texas – First-year punter Tyler Huettel of the St. Olaf College football team was named the program's first American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-America honoree since 1980 when he was selected to the 2021 AFCA Division III Coaches' All-America Second Team on Tuesday morning.

One of just two first-year student-athletes among the 52 honorees from across the country to be recognized in Tuesday's announcement, Huettel is also the third AFCA All-America selection in program history, joining John Nahorniak '79 in 1978 and Jon Anderson '81 in 1980. The McKinney, Texas product was one of three student-athletes in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) to earn All-America honors from the coaches' group along with Bethel defensive back Nate Farm (First Team) and Saint John's wide receiver Ravi Alston (Second Team).

The All-America honor was the latest in a string of postseason accolades for Huettel, who was named a D3football.com First Team All-Region honoree earlier this month and a First Team All-MIAC selection in late November. He was the first Ole team earn D3football.com All-Region honors since 2012 and one of two first years on the first team in Region 6.

In his rookie season, Huettel remains the NCAA Division III leader in punting, averaging 42.80 yards per punt on his 45 punts this season, breaking the long-standing program record set by Randy Sanders '77 in 1975 of 42.33 yards per punt. He also had one-third of his punts downed inside the 20-yard line, pinning opponents deep on 15 of his 45 punts, and had 12 punts of at least 50 yards with only one touchback.

Huettel had at least one 50-yard punt in eight of St. Olaf's 10 games this season, including a season-long 67-yarder against No. 14 Central in the season opener on Sept. 4 that was the longest punt in the MIAC this season.

The AFCA has selected an All-America team every year since 1945, evolving from a single 11-player team across all divisions to the current two-team model for all five divisions (NAIA, NCAA Division III, NCAA Division II, FCS, FBS).

Selections were made by the AFCA's Division III All-America Selection Committee, which is made up of head coaches representing each conference from each of the AFCA's seven districts. The coaches in each district are responsible for ranking the top players in their respective districts prior to a conference call between the district chairmen and the committee chairman on which the team is chosen.
 

Name	Position	Team	Year
John Nahorniak	Linebacker	College Division II	1978
Jon Anderson	Defensive Line	College Division II	1980
Tyler Huettel	Punter	Second	2021