AFCA Names Wheeler First Team All-American
12/20/2023 | Football
AFCA Release
Richmond, Va. — Redshirt senior linebacker Tristan Wheeler has been named a First Team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), announced Wednesday.
Over the course of his five-year career, Wheeler totaled 487 tackles, 33 tackles for loss, seven sacks, and four interceptions. His time with the Spiders culminated in 2023 with a single-season career-high 121 tackles, as well as 3.0 sacks and 10.0 tackles for loss.
Wheeler tallied 17 tackles against Morgan State, the second-most tackles in a single game in his career. With his fourth tackle of the contest against Delaware State, Wheeler reached the 400 career tackles mark, becoming just the seventh Spider ever to reach the milestone. During the Campbell game, Wheeler moved to second all-time on the Spiders career tackles list and during the Elon game, he eclipsed the 100 tackles mark for the fourth-straight full season of football (2019, 2021 fall, 2022, 2023).
Wheeler helped lead a Richmond defense that stood at or near the top of FCS football in three key statistical categories including takeaways (26, T-4), defensive touchdowns (5, T-1) and interceptions (16, T-7) and the team scored 83 of it's 366 points (25.9 percent) off turnovers this season.
So far this offseason, he's been named a Third Team All-American by FCS Football Central, a Fourth Teamer by Phil Steele/Draftscout.com and received a Second Team All-America nod from Stats Perform.
Richmond, Va. — Redshirt senior linebacker Tristan Wheeler has been named a First Team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), announced Wednesday.
Over the course of his five-year career, Wheeler totaled 487 tackles, 33 tackles for loss, seven sacks, and four interceptions. His time with the Spiders culminated in 2023 with a single-season career-high 121 tackles, as well as 3.0 sacks and 10.0 tackles for loss.
Wheeler tallied 17 tackles against Morgan State, the second-most tackles in a single game in his career. With his fourth tackle of the contest against Delaware State, Wheeler reached the 400 career tackles mark, becoming just the seventh Spider ever to reach the milestone. During the Campbell game, Wheeler moved to second all-time on the Spiders career tackles list and during the Elon game, he eclipsed the 100 tackles mark for the fourth-straight full season of football (2019, 2021 fall, 2022, 2023).
Wheeler helped lead a Richmond defense that stood at or near the top of FCS football in three key statistical categories including takeaways (26, T-4), defensive touchdowns (5, T-1) and interceptions (16, T-7) and the team scored 83 of it's 366 points (25.9 percent) off turnovers this season.
So far this offseason, he's been named a Third Team All-American by FCS Football Central, a Fourth Teamer by Phil Steele/Draftscout.com and received a Second Team All-America nod from Stats Perform.
Players Mentioned
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