Hardy & McDonald Garner CoSIDA Academic All-District® Honors
WALTHAM, Mass. – Seniors Bryan Hardy (Barnstable/Barnstable HS) and Sam McDonald (Norfolk/King Philip Reg. HS), two key contributors to a Bentley University defense that is 19th in Division II in takeaways and 31st in scoring defense, have been selected for the 2016 Division II Academic All-District 1 football team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
District 1 includes student-athletes competing in the Northeast-10 Conference, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, the Mountain East Conference and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Hardy, the first player in the program's 29-year varsity history to amass at least 300 career tackles, will head into this Saturday's game at New Haven six tackles shy of reaching the century mark for the second time in three years. He leads the Northeast-10 in solo tackles (47) and his 9.4 overall average ranks second in the conference. Hardy also has ten tackles for losses, two interceptions and a forced fumble.
Hardy, a two-time Academic All-Northeast-10 selection, was voted second-team All-NE-10 last fall. He's excelled in the classroom during his collegiate career, earning a 3.70 grade point average while majoring in economics-finance.
McDonald, whose 17 career interceptions is one shy of the school record, has been in on 43 tackles this season while picking off three passes and breaking up six others. He's also the team's top punt returner for the second straight season, averaging 8.4 yards on 13 returns.
McDonald, an Academic All-District honoree for the second time, has a 3.42 GPA in economics-finance. Last season, he was voted Academic All-Northeast-10 and second-team All-NE-10 last fall.
Hardy and McDonald, along with the other All-District honorees, will advance to the national ballot for Academic All-America® consideration, with the national team scheduled to be announced later this month.
Bentley will take records of 5-4 overall and 5-3 NE-10 into Saturday's encounter at New Haven.