ST. LOUIS – Three Missouri State football players have been named to the 2017 Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Academic Team, announced by the league office Wednesday. Junior safety Jared Beshore and sophomore quarterback Peyton Huslig were selected for second-team honors, while tight end Erik Furmanek was an honorable mention pick in a vote of the conference's sports information directors.

Beshore, an MVFC All-Academic Team honorable mention selection a year ago, is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District VI pick and a 2016 MVFC Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award winner. The Lamar, Mo., product started seven games at safety this season, recording 37 solo stops and 59 total tackles to finish as the Bears' third-leading tackler. He also logged a team-high three interceptions, which tied for sixth overall in the MVFC, and averaged 6.1 tackles per game in MVFC play. Beshore, a physical education major, maintains a 3.84 grade-point average.

Huslig, an honorable mention All-MVFC selection at quarterback, started all 11 games under center for the Bears in his first year with the program, passing for 1,981 yards and nine touchdowns. He amassed 2,602 yards of total offense, which was the fifth-best total in the MVFC and logged MSU all-time top 10 season figures for total offense and passing yards. An Andover, Kan., native, Huslig was named MVFC Newcomer of the Week on two occasions and turned in three 100-yard rushing games to finish as the Bears' leading rusher (621); his 174-yard day vs. Indiana State set a school record for rushing yards by a quarterback. A 2017 MVFC Academic Honor Roll member, Huslig maintains a 3.83 GPA as a cell and molecular biology major.

Furmanek, a three-time MVFC Academic Honor Roll member and an honorable mention MVFC All-Academic Team pick for the second year in a row, started 10 games at tight end for MSU as a senior. He finished as the Bears' second-leading receiver with 30 receptions for 444 yards and two touchdowns. The Belleville, Ill., product posted three different five-catch performances, including a career-best 91-yard afternoon in the Bears' season opener at Missouri, in which he hauled in a career-long 64-yard catch to help the Bears record their best-ever offensive day vs. an FBS foe. Furmanek is a logistics and supply chain management major who maintains a 3.67 GPA.

Nominees for the MVFC's All-Academic teams must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average (4.0 scale). Student-athletes must have reached sophomore academic and athletic standing at their institutions (freshmen are not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution. League sports information directors voted on the team by designating 11 players for first-team honors and 11 players for second-team honors.