FRISCO, Texas _ The University of Central Arkansas had a league-high five football players named to the 2016 Southland Conference All-Academic teams released Monday by the conference office.

    UCA selections includes wide receivers Desmond Smith and Jatavious Wilson, tight end/H-back Cody Dauksch and offensive linemen Stockton Mallett and John Austin Cook. Smith, a senior from Bentonville, Ark., has now been named to the Southland All-Academic team three times at UCA while Mallett, a junior from Harrison, Ark., earned his second honor. Smith, Wilson and Mallett were automatic selections after making the All-SLC first team.

    Smith, who set the career receiving yards (2,828 yards) and career receptions (226) records at UCA this past season, has a 3.19 grade-point average in Biology. Wilson, a senior from Bastrop, La., shattered the UCA career record for all-purpose yards, finishing his career with, 5,659, 866 yards more than the old mark set 23 years ago by UCA Hall of Famer Hosea Knowlton. Wilson has a 3.33 GPA in health education.

    Dauksch, who already graduated with a 3.70 in math, caught seven passes for 91 yards and a pair of touchdowns as a senior. Mallett helped the Bears' offense average more than 420 yards per game and 33.1 points a game. Cook, a redshirt sophomore from Grenada, Miss., helped UCA average 187.2 rushing yards per game, which ranked second in the SLC. He has a 3.87 in biology and was named to the FCS ADA Academic All-Star team last week. 

    UCA, which advanced to the second round of the FCS Playoffs, finished 14th in the final STATS FCS poll, also released Monday.
  
    To be an automatic selection, a student-athlete must be a first-team All-Southland Conference honoree, a Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-American/All-District selection or named to the FCS Athletic Directors Association Academic All-Star Team, which was announced this week leading up to the FCS national championship game.
 
    The All-Academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic advisors from each Southland Conference university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.