SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Missouri State senior Dylan Cole added a pair of national honors to his resume Monday, as the linebacker was named a first-team All-American by both the AFCA and Walter Camp Football Foundation voters. 

Cole was one of six Missouri Valley Football Conference standouts selected for the AFCA's top team, joining North Dakota State's Zack Johnson and Tre Dempsey, UNI's Karter Schult, South Dakota State's Dallas Goedert and South Dakota's Miles Bergner as first-team honorees. Additionally, the Valley placed an FCS-best six players on the prestigious 26-man Walter Camp FCS All-American squad.

Cole, who was tabbed for The Associated Press FCS All-America first team last Thursday, completed his four-year Missouri State career as the nation's leading tackler with an average of 12.9 stops per game during the regular season. The Rogersville, Mo., product recorded at least 13 tackles in nine different games, including 19 in the Bears' win over Southern Illinois. The All-MVFC first-team selection racked up 85 solo tackles, eight tackles for loss, two interceptions, four pass breakups and three forced fumbles. 

Earlier this month, Cole was named one of three finalists for STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award honoring the top defensive player in the nation. He capped his career with 457 tackles in 46 games, finishing third on the Bears' career tackles chart and ninth all-time in Valley history.

The AFCA has selected an All-America team since 1945 and currently selects teams in all five of its divisions. Beginning this year, the AFCA has started selecting a first and second team. What makes these teams so special is that they are the only ones chosen exclusively by the men who know the players the best — the coaches themselves.

Walter Camp, "The Father of American football," first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team, which is selected by the head coaches and sports information directors of the Football Championship Subdivision schools and certified by the accounting and auditing firm, Marcum LLP.