ST. LOUIS – Illinois State standouts Ryan Gudaitis and Tommy Rittenhouse are among a list of 46 student-athletes named to the 2024 All-Missouri Valley Football Conference Scholar-Athlete Team on Wednesday by the league office. Each were named Second Team selections in the annual vote by the league's sports information directors.
In addition to his academic honors, Gudaitis was named a 2024 All-MVFC Honorable Mention Team selection on the offensive for the Redbirds. The Arlington Heights, Illinois, native holds a 3.70 cumulative GPA in accountancy at Illinois State. Gudaitis started in all 14 games for the Redbirds, with 10 starts at center to end the season for ISU. He was a key member of the offensive line unit that helped the Redbirds rush for 164 yards per game on the ground and score 26.6 points per game. The Redbirds also ranked fifth in the league in total offense at 407.8 yards per game during the regular season and Gudaitis helped lead the way for 1000-yard rusher Wenkers Wright, who tallied 1,123 yards and scored 11 touchdowns on the ground.
A 2024 All-MVFC Honorable Mention Team selection, Rittenhouse started all 14 games at quarterback for the Redbirds as a team captain. The Geneva, Illinois, native completed 66.4 percent of his passes (259-for-390) for 2,840 yards with 17 touchdown passes. During the regular season, he ranked third in the MVFC in completions and pass yards and fifth in completion percentage and passing touchdowns. The redshirt junior combined to score 25 total touchdowns, with eight scores on the ground to rank second on the team and rushed for 480 yards on 78 attempts. He threw for a career-high 347 yards in a win at Murray State and tied career bests with three touchdown passes each in wins against Eastern Illinois and at Indiana State.
Nominees for the All-MVFC Scholar-Athlete Team must be starters or important reserves, must have participated in at least 50 percent of his team's games and carry a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale). Additionally, nominees must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his institution and must have completed at least one calendar year at his institution. True freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible athletic transfers are not eligible.
Nominees in graduate school must have a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or better both as an undergrad and in graduate school. Graduate students who are competing at a different institution than the one from which they earned their undergraduate degree are eligible even if they are in their first semester at the graduate institution.Â
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