Retter, DeVose Garner 2024 CSC Academic All-America

Freddie Retter and Jalen DeVose of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion Kutztown University football team were named to the Academic All-America Second Team that was announced by the College Sports Communicators.

The duo are just the seventh and eighth members of the Golden Bear football program all-time to garner the prestigious honor and the first since Jerome Kapp in 2022.

Retter had a breakout season with career-highs of 22 solo tackles (43 total), 13 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, two fumbles forced, two fumbles recovered and three blocked kicks. The Quakertown, Pa., native was the 2024 PSAC East Defensive Athlete of the Year and D2CCA Super Region 1 Defensive Player of the Year. Retter captured all-conference and all-region First Team accolades while leading the PSAC in blocked kicks and ranking in the top five in fumbles recovered and sacks per game (0.68). He ranked within the top 25 in NCAA Division II in all three categories. Retter, a redshirt sophomore, is an elementary education (math & science) major with a 3.97 GPA.

DeVose, a graduate student from Lansdale, Pa., is currently pursuing his Master of Business Administration after earning his bachelor's degree in psychology. He posted a 3.38 undergraduate GPA and had a 4.00 graduate GPA at the time of his nomination. DeVose started all 12 games for the 11-1 Golden Bears, making 57 tackles (26 solo) to go along with 7.0 tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks. He also recovered a pair of fumbles and returned an interception for a touchdown at Millersville on Nov. 2. DeVose was an All-PSAC East First Team and D2CCA All-Super Region 1 Second Team selection for the first time in his career. He is appearing on the CSC Academic All-District Team for the second year in a row.

In order to be eligible for an Academic All-America nomination, student-athletes must be at least sophomores in athletic and academic standing, must own a cumulative grade point average above 3.50 for all of their undergraduate and graduate studies and they must have significant athletic credentials.

The Academic All-America teams feature just 181 total football players out of the more than 90,000 total players from the three NCAA Divisions and the NAIA, meaning roughly 0.2 percent of collegiate football players are named to the Academic All-America team. The 181 honorees were selected from a field of 2,452 Academic All-District honorees.

Kutztown finished the 2024 season 11-1 overall and 7-0 in the PSAC, winning the PSAC title before falling in the NCAA Second Round. The undefeated regular season was a first for the program in the modern era.