Senior linebacker Tommy Enke became the 155th Augustana Viking to be named an Academic All-American, which adds to the college total and remain 6th in the nation to have the most Academic All-Americans.
Though he has always maintained a near-perfect grade point average of 3.98 in his four years at Augustana, Enke had not really entertained the notion of possibly becoming an Academic All-American until midway through this year’s football season.
“Becoming an Academic All-American was never really on my radar and it didn’t become a goal of mine until midway through this year when I was named to the Academic All-District team,” said Enke.
After earning a starting position before the third game of the 2014 season, Enke credits embracing the mindset the football team took on defense in assisting him in earning his place on the Capital One Academic All-America team in football.
“At the beginning of the year, we adopted a mindset of playing dominating defense every game and every play,” said Enke. “I believe my success is a testament to the success of our defense as a whole. Ultimately, my success was only possible because of the great play and effort of everyone on the defense and everyone on the scout offense that prepared us for the game.”
After earning his place as a starting linebacker/defensive end, Enke finished his senior season as the seventh leading tackler with 36 total tackles, two pass deflections, one fumble recovery and one forced fumble. He also had 6.5 tackles for losses and 4.5 sacks on the season.
As a biochemistry major who received early acceptance into the University of Nebraska Medical Center with aspirations of a potential career in surgery, Enke truly knows the meaning of balance in order to excel as a collegiate athlete.
“As most of my friends can agree, there wasn’t a whole lot of time where I wasn’t either in the library or at a football related activity,” said Enke. “It was really a constant grind of school work and football that didn’t leave much time for anything else.”
Though it has been a straining road, Enke demonstrates the values Augustana upholds in order for its student-athletes to be successful in all aspects of their college career.
“I feel the best advice I can give is to learn to handle adversity and persevere,” said Enke. “When faced with a challenge or roadblock it’s important to handle the challenge to the best of your ability and adjust accordingly.”
Though the honor of being named an Academic All-Amerian Enke feels grateful to have the additional honor of helping to continue Augustana’s tradition of producing successful student-athletes.
“Being named an Academic All-American has meant a great deal to me,” said Enke. “Succeeding in both academics and athletics is a great tradition at Augustana.”