Chesser Named Academic All-American of Year, Messer Adds All-American Nod
AUSTIN, Texas – Taylor University's Jameson Chesser and Reid Messer received high honors on Tuesday, being named as 2024-2025 College Sports Communicators (CSC) NAIA Football First-Team Academic All-Americans. Chesser added an even more prestigious honor, being selected as the CSC NAIA Football All-American of the Year.
Chesser is the first Taylor student-athlete to be recognized as a CSC Academic All-American of the Year since Matt Hall did so in 2017 for men's track and cross country. Chesser follows Hall, Josh DeGraff (baseball, 2015), Amanda Roden (women's soccer, 2014) and Casey Coons (men's basketball, 2012) as the fifth Trojan to receive the distinguished accolade, becoming the first to do so for the TU football program.
Chesser is joined by Travis Hunter of Colorado (NCAA DI), Brayden Long of Slipper Rock (NCAA D2) and Aaron Syverson of Saint John's (NCAA D3) as the four recipients of the award, out of the over 90,000 collegiate football players from across the NCAA and NAIA during the 2024 season.
The CSC NAIA Football All-American-of-the-Year and First-Team Academic All-American honors for Chesser are the latest in an impressive list of accomplishments for the senior running back, who was previously named as a Second-Team All-MSFA Mideast League performer and NAIA Scholar-Athlete.
Chesser ended his 2024 campaign ranked fifth in the NAIA and tops in the MSFA Mideast League with 1,174 rushing yards and 20 rushing scores. The Adrian, Michigan native fumbled just once in 191 carries, averaged 6.1 yards per touch and became the sixth player in Taylor history to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards in a single season. Along the way, Chesser set TU's single-game and single-season rushing touchdown records.
While piling up the stats on the field, Chesser boasted a cumulative 3.79 grade-point average in film and media production.
"Jameson had a profound impact on our football program because of his commitment to excellence in all that he does," stated TU head coach Aaron Mingo. "He is a true servant leader who elevates the interests of others above his own, so it is very special to see him be recognized with the pinnacle of distinctions for an NAIA football player. Jameson is stewarding the gifts he has been given with his best shot for the glory of God and the benefit of the kingdom."
Joining Chesser as a First-Team Academic All-American was Messer, who owns a 3.91 cumulative GPA in accounting. The sophomore safety and Second-Team All-MSFA Mideast League standout helped anchor the improved Taylor secondary with 38 tackles, three hits for lost yardage, four interceptions and 10 pass breakups.
"Reid's commitment to being the best he can in the classroom and on the field is evident every day," commented Mingo. "He is a player in our program that elevates the performance of those around him. Achieving this honor as a sophomore is an extremely rare feat and it signifies how exceptional he truly is."
Chesser and Messer claimed two of the 27 available spots on the NAIA Academic All-America Team, becoming the first Taylor football student-athletes to earn the honor since Hutson Hohlbein and Brendan Lamb did so in 2022-2023.
The Taylor football program now boasts 24 CSC Academic All-American honors in its history, with 22 of those being First-Team Academic All-American awards.
With the awards from Chesser and Messer, Taylor student-athletes have now combined for an NAIA-leading 141 CSC Academic All-American awards, with 139 of those honors coming since 2010. Of those 141 awards, 66 were of the First-Team variety.
The CSC Academic All-American distinction is designed to recognize student-athletes for outstanding achievements in the classroom and on the field. To receive the honor, an athlete must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 or higher on a 4.0 scale, must have reached sophomore status academically, and must have met the playing time criteria of playing in 90-percent of the team's games, or starting in 66-percent of the team's games for the current season.
Student-athletes are nominated for the award by their institution's Sports Information Department and voted on by members of the CSC.