Eight Footballers Named to Academic All-District Team

HANOVER, N.H. — For the third straight year, the Dartmouth football team had eight players selected for inclusion on the College Sports Communicators (CSC, formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District University Team — Macklin Ayers, Micah Green, Josh Greene, Daniel Haughton, Nick Marinaro, Tevita Moimoi, Paxton Scott and Konstantin Spörk.

To be considered, a student-athlete must have completed at least one full calendar year with at least a 3.5 cumulative grade-point average and participated in at least 90 percent of the team's games or started two-thirds of the contests. The District I team is comprised of athletes from New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont.

Ayers, a 6-3. 235-pound senior co-captain from Elizabethville, Pennsylvania, is a sociology major with a 3.82 GPA and receiving this honor for the second time. An All-Ivy League Second Team linebacker this fall, two-time Academic All-Ivy League selection and FCS ADA Academic All-Star in 2022, Ayers led the team and ranked fifth in the conference with 79 tackles while posting three tackles for a loss — one of which was a sack — and one interception.

Joining Ayers from the linebacking corps was Micah Green, a mechatronics major from Indianapolis, Indiana. The 5-10, 225-pound junior saw action in all 10 games, starting three, making 25 stops with one sack to his credit.

Long snapper Josh Greene has racked up several accolades this fall as a Fourth-Team All-American and Special Teams Player of the Year in the Ivy League as chosen by Phil Steele. A three-time Academic All-District selection and a member of the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, the fifth-year senior is a 5-11, 225-pound government major with a 3.61 GPA who has handled the Big Green long-snapping duties for the past three seasons.

Dartmouth had a pair of wide receivers make the cut in Scott and Haughton. Scott, a senior economics major with a 3.53 GPA, joined Greene as a three-time recipient of the Academic All-District Team after earning a spot on the All-Ivy League Second Team this past fall. The 6-1, 200-pound senior from Dallas, Texas led the team in receiving for a third consecutive year with 51 catches and 630 yards — both of which ranked fifth in the Ancient Eight — while hauling in a pair of touchdowns. Scott ended the year tied for 10th all-time at Dartmouth with 131 hauls and 11th with 1,526 career yards.

Haughton, meanwhile, saw time in all but one game, moving into the starting lineup for the second half of the campaign. Hailing from Matthews, North Carolina, the 6-0, 195-pound sophomore was third on the squad in both receptions (19) and yardage (175) and is a government major with a 3.61 GPA.

Two junior offensive linemen also made the cut in the 6-1, 285-pound Marinaro (government major, 3.56 GPA) and the 6-5, 290-pound Spörk (engineering major, 3.69 GPA), the latter earning the honor for a second time. Both players saw time in all 10 games, starting a combined 14 times at center and right tackle, respectively, helping Dartmouth not only earn the Ivy League title but also lead all the FCS in fewest sacks allowed while also ranking second in the Ivy League in rushing.

Another team co-captain, Moimoi, rounds out the Big Green honorees. The 6-0, 225-pound senior running back from Menlo Park, California, averaged 4.7 yards per carry and was third on the team with 271 yards on the ground and two touchdown runs. A film and media studies major with 3.64 GPA, Moimoi added 14 catches (fifth on the team) for 89 yards to his ledger, and was named to the Phil Steele All-Ivy League Fourth Team.

Ayers, Greene and Scott have been chosen as finalists for Academic All-America honors and will be on the ballot to be voted on by CSC members. The first-, second- and third-team honorees will be announced on Jan. 23, 2024.

Notes: Dartmouth was one of only 15 Division I schools (FBS and FCS) to have the maximum eight players earn a spot on the team, a group that includes Austin Peay, Bucknell, Cincinnati, Dayton, Fresno State, Furman, Harvard, Iowa State, Kansas, Montana, Northwestern and Southern Utah, Stanford and Washington State.

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