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Matt Wrather vs. UW-Whitewater
Doug Beigie

Matt Wrather Selected as a Lindy's 2024 Preseason Division III First Team All-American

| By: Joe Ginley '16, SID
Matt Wrather is a Lindy's Preseason All-American for the second straight season.
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS – Winning football starts in the trenches. 

Thankfully, John Carroll Football features one of the nation's best and brightest in the middle of the offensive line.

Matt Wrather is a Lindy's 2024 Division III Preseason All-American. The center heralded First Team honors from Lindy's after he was named to the Second Team in 2023. 

As any football coach will tell you, preseason prognostications mean little when the battle begins. But Wrather has already proven his mettle on the gridiron (as well as in the classroom and community) over the last two seasons.

The Olentangy Liberty grad served as the Blue Streaks' starting center for the 2023 and 2022 seasons. Following each season, Wrather garnered First Team All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors, as well as College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® recognition. 

After his junior year, more honors followed. The Powell native was crowned the OAC's Ken Wable Co-Offensive Lineman of the Year, becoming JCU's sixth such honoree. Wrather then became a D3football.com Second Team All-American. And prestigiously, Wrather was selected to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® Second Team, just the 11th member of the football program to be recognized by CSC (formerly known as CoSIDA). 

All of the awards stemmed from a phenomenal season for Wrather and his linemates. The JCU Offensive Line surrendered the fewest sacks in the conference and allowed the offense to set a new mark for pass efficiency, while also helping Joe Collins to break the program mark for completion percentage in a season. The offensive line won the OAC Offensive Athlete of the Week award after a 44-14 win over Ohio Northern. The unit ushered the way to 526 total yards, a season-high 269 yards on the ground, while allowing zero sacks.

In the classroom, Wrather has done excellent work as a Finance major, with a 3.73 cumulative GPA thus far. Twice, he's won Academic All-OAC certificates. 

In the community, the rising senior has been plenty involved, too. This past year, Wrather served as a core team member for Jesuit Day of Service, helping to organize the event, which gathered 400 students and staff members to conduct service projects at nine sites. Within athletics, Wrather is the football representative for the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). He's also assisted with the 2nd and 7 Reading Program, the Mental Health Day Fair at JCU, More Than Food (founded by Bricker Thiel & Brenden Swann), Night To Shine (hosted by the Tim Tebow Foundation), Build The Bridge Camp, Philosophy classes at nearby Gesu Catholic School, the Cleveland Browns High School Showcase, and Carroll Ballers. 

Notably, Wrather co-founded and successfully launched JCU Student Alumni Association last year, a new student organization sponsored by JCU Alumni Relations Department. He helped to recruit over 200 alumni to join the organization with an additional 150 students within the first year. 

Wrather and the Blue Streaks open the season on Saturday, September 7 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Lindy's College Football National 2024 Preview Magazine is out now and available at select bookstores and grocery stores.
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