Kallal named Academic All-American

LB is one of two CSFL players honored

ROME, Georgia  --  The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced Friday that 244 football student-athletes have been named 2011 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes. Southwestern Assemblies of God University’s Nathan Kallal wasn’t just the Lions’ lone honoree, but one of only two players from the entire Central States Football Conference.

Brock Wardlaw (Okeene, Ok), a junior linebacker from Northwestern Oklahoma State University, was the other CSFL representative.

Kallal (COW-lowl, both syllables like owl) is a 6-foot-1, 215-pound, linebacker. The junior is from Brighton, Illinois, which is thirty miles north of St. Louis, Missouri. He played for the Piasabirds of Southwestern High School. The piasa is a Native American dragon depicted in cliffside murals along the Mississippi River.

Kallal made his mark in the classroom and was a rock on the defensive side of the ball. The ‘backer averaged 3.0 tackles per game, totaling 30 in ten games, 17 more than his sophomore campaign.

The Lions ran a 3-4 defense, with seniors Richard Embry (Paris, Tx / Paris HS), Quentin Holloman (Garland, Tx / Sachse HS) and Patrick Smith (Bluffton, SC / Hilton Head Christian) and freshman Rockie Davis (Santa Fe, Tx / Santa Fe HS) were four of the team’s top five tacklers. The next LB on the tackles list was Kallal, who will compete for a starting assignment next season.

Student-athletes are nominated by their institution's head coach and must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status in order qualify for the honor.

“Nathan is a tremendous young man,” said Jesse Godding, the Lions’ head coach. “He has the discipline to play football, work as a tutor and being involved in community service and ministry outreaches as well. It's positive to see him get this recognition and reward for his hard work in the classroom.”

The announcement was made by Chad Waller, the Director of Sports Information and Media Services for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

To view the entire list of 2011 Daktronics-NAIA Football Scholar-Athletes, click here.

Contact: Mark “Link” Warde, Sports Information Director, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 469-658-2847.