INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) announced Tuesday that the University of Indianapolis earned three of the league's 2024 major football postseason awards, including Offensive Player of the Year Gavin Sukup, Defensive Player of the Year Clay Schulte, and Coach of the Year Chris Keevers.
 
UIndy also led the league with 26 all-conference honorees and 15 on the first team, followed by McKendree University and Upper Iowa University (16), Quincy University (14), Truman State University (13), Missouri S&T (12), Southwest Baptist University (8), William Jewell College (6), and Lincoln University (5).
 
The all-conference awards are nominated and voted on by league coaches, who, per GLVC Bylaws, are not permitted to vote for their own players.
 

?? | Congrats to our three #GLVCfb major award winners! ?????? pic.twitter.com/Ss6yDAlYaq

— UIndy Athletics (@UIndyAthletics) November 26, 2024

Offensive Player of the Year: Gavin Sukup, Junior, Quarterback, Indianapolis

• Becomes UIndy's seventh Offensive Player of the Year overall and the second ever player to win the award in back-to-back seasons, the first being Cooper Callis from Southwest Baptist in the shortened spring 2021 season and 2021.
• Led GLVC through 12 games overall in total passing yards (2621), and total yards (2983).
  • Placed second in the conference in completion percentage (62.6), passing touchdowns (21), average yards per game (218.4), and total offensive yards per game (248.6).
• Led GLVC in eight Conference contests in completion percentage (72.8), total yards (2010), and total yard per game (251.3).
  • Placed second in the conference in passing efficiency (181.8), and third in passing yards (1690), passing touchdowns (14), and passing yards per game (211.3).
• Ranked 16th in NCAA Division II in yards per attempt (8.91), 18th for passing yards (2621), 25th in passing touchdowns (21),
• Named GLVC Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 16, Sept. 23, and Oct. 28.
• Earns second career All-GLVC accolade as the First Team quarterback.

 
Defensive Player of the Year: Clay Schulte, Senior, Linebacker, Indianapolis

• Becomes UIndy's third Defensive Player of the Year after defensive backs Landry Mavungu and Mitch Dewitt nabbed the honors last year and during the shortened Spring 2021 season.
• Second in the Conference in total tackles (100) and tackles for loss (14.5) through 12 games, also third in the conference in solo tackles (57).
• Placed fourth in eight Conference contests with 61 total tackles.
• Named GLVC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 7, and Nov. 11
• Earns second-straight All-GLVC honor on the First Team.

 
Coach of the Year: Chris Keevers, Indianapolis

• Voted by his peers as Coach of the Year for the fourth time, while this is the eighth time a Greyhound mentor has won the honor.
• Led UIndy to a 10-2 overall record and 8-0 GLVC record to win the program's tenth GLVC Championship.
• Earned third-straight and ninth overall NCAA Division II Playoff bid.
• Ranked 14th in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coaches' Poll.
• Guided 26 players to All-GLVC distinction, including 15 on the First Team, nine on the Second Team, and two Honorable Mention while also mentoring two major award winners in Sukup, and Schulte.

 
The nine GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award honorees are also listed below. Headlined by UIndy's Kivonte Houston, these student-athletes have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior and must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports competition setting. The honorees are now eligible to become one of their school's two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced at the end of the academic year.

 

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR	FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Gavin Sukup, QB, Jr., Indianapolis	Jackson Overton, WR, Truman State
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR	COACH OF THE YEAR
Clay Schulte, LB, Sr., Indianapolis	Chris Keevers, Indianapolis
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Gideon Niboh, Off-UT, Sr., Missouri S&T
FIRST TEAM*	SECOND TEAM*
Ryan Ritchie, OL, Sr., UINDY	Klay Seehase, OL, Jr., UIU
Ryne Buttz, OL, Jr., UINDY	Grant Ray, OL, RS-So., UINDY
Kody Klingensmith, OL, Sr., TSU	Tyler Leopold, OL, RS-So., UINDY
Cole Littrell, OL, Sr., S&T	Nathan Smith, OL, Sr., QU
Brandon Stuckey, OL, RS-Fr., UINDY	Houston Eagen, OL, Sr., TSU
Austin Dearing, OL, Sr., QU	Jake Seidel, OL, Sr., S&T
Teon Dollard, RB, Gr., QU	Denim Cook, RB, Jr., TSU
Jon Lewis, RB, Sr., UINDY	Eddie Clark, RB, RS-So., MCK
Keaundre McCullough, RB, RS-Sr., WJC	Jayden Mitchell, RB, Gr., UIU
Yogi Flager, Jr., WR, RS-Sr., MCK	Jackson Overton, WR, RS-Fr., TSU
CJ Wiggins, WR, Sr., S&T	Kendall Abdur-Rahman, WR, Gr., MCK
Anthony Crowell, WR, So., UINDY	Mante Morrow, WR, Jr., UIU
Jordan Kent, WR, Sr., SBU	Alonzo Derrick, WR, Sr., UINDY
Chris Kerr, TE, Sr., TSU	Ethan Hand, TE, Sr., UINDY
Gideon Niboh, Off-UT, Sr., S&T	Connor Kinnett, Off-UT, Sr., UINDY
Markez Gillam, RS, Jr., UINDY	Gideon Niboh, RS, Sr., S&T
Michael Wojciechowski, LS, RS-Sr., UINDY	Ifeanyi Mbagwu, LS, Jr., LINC
Graham Carter, LS, Jr., S&T	Michael Owens, K, Sr., QU
Ian Burr, K, RS-Sr., UINDY	Nathan Behne, K, Fr., UIU
Clayton Winkler, P, Sr., LINC	Logan Jacobson, P, So., S&T
Gavin Sukup, QB, Jr., UINDY	Dylan Hair, QB, So., TSU
Aaron Barnett, DL, RS-Sr., UINDY	Eddy Latanauskas, DL, Jr., UIU
Sam Amponsah, DL, 5th, MCK	Brandon Granger, DL, Sr., QU
Rhett Smith, DL, Sr., UIU	Jaylin Vaughn, DL, Jr., QU
Thomas Spaulding, DL, Jr., TSU	Amarion Evans, DL, Sr., UINDY
Bentley Hart, DL, Jr., S&T	Tanner Hollerich, DL, Jr., MCK
Clay Schulte, LB, Sr., UINDY	San Flowers, LB, Sr., UINDY
Ulysses Ross, LB, Sr., TSU	Michael Mulherin, LB, So., UIU
Adam Callahan, LB, Sr., WJC	Trevor Thompson, LB, Sr., UIU
Brock Inman, LB, Sr., QU	Justin Gniedziekjo, LB, Jr., S&T
Kole Viel, LB, Sr., UINDY	Ricky Woodhouse, LB, So., SBU
Michael Brown, DB, Sr., UINDY	Zacarius Murray, DB, Sr., UIU
Key Crowell, DB, Fr., UINDY	Joseph Webb, DB, Sr., QU
Andrew Sherry, DB, RS-Sr., MCK	Jalyn Givan, DB, RS-Jr., UINDY
Sean Mitchell, DB, RS-Jr., WJC	Ben Kamara, DB, Jr., UIU
Kivonte Houston, DB, Sr., UINDY	Jahaad Fort, DB, RS-Fr., SBU
Carson Prenger, Def-UT, Sr., S&T	San Flowers, Def-UT, Sr., UINDY
HONORABLE MENTION	SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Wyatt Bonnett, OL, RS-Fr., TSU	Kivonte Houston, UINDY
William Doyle IV, OL, 5th, MCK	Yogi Flager Jr, MCK
Nicholas Cicero, OL, Jr., MCK	Clayton Winkler, LINC
Ryan Winn, OL, RS-Jr., WJC	Justis Braden, S&T
Nick Perry, OL, RS-Fr., UIU	Joe Webb, QU
Tre Wince III, OL, Jr., QU	Jaquan Dorsey, SBU
Khi'Len Gates, OL, Fr., LINC	Peyton Carr, TSU
Kareem Carswell, RB, Jr., QU	Baxter Bohr, UIU
Jareese Howard, RB, Fr., LINC	Nash Gagliano, WJC
Jalen Bethany, RE, 5th, WJC
Jay Ford, RE, RS-Jr., MCK
AJ Austene, RE, Jr., WJC	*extra member due to tie
Cobi Lewis, RE, Jr., UINDY
Garrett Drew, TE, Gr., QU
Jaquan Dorsey, Off-UT, Sr., SBU
Jake Closser, RS, Sr., TSU
Robert LeMaster, LS, Jr., TSU
Tanner Franklin, LS, Fr., SBU
Mo Alwaely, K, So., LINC
Kaleb Barry, P, Gr., MCK
RJ Wells, P, Jr., UIU
Ty Michael, QB, RS-So., MCK
Darryl Overstreet Jr., QB, Jr., UIU
Baxter Bohr, DL, Sr., UIU
Matt Austin, DL, Jr., QU
Dameion Hatten, DL, Jr., MCK
Braden Powers, DL, Jr., UIU
Brandon Smith, DL, RS-Jr., UINDY
David Avelar, DL, Sr., SBU
Cameron Sturgell, LB, RS-Fr., S&T
Ja'Markus Gary, LB, RS-Jr., MCK
Nick Bova, LB, So., MCK
Logan Turbyfill, LB, Jr., MCK
Jake McCollum, LB, Sr., TSU
Brock Wiley, LB, So., QU
Keshawn Lyons, DB, So., MCK
Levi Korir, DB, Jr., SBU
David Lewis, DB, Sr., QU
Avery Dixon, DB, Jr., UIU
Paulvin Horton, DB, Sr., S&T
Brock Jones, Def-UT, Sr., TSU