Wheaton, Ill. – Seniors David Nussbaum, Joseph Bracy and junior Josiah Smith of the Thunder football team have been selected to the 2025 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America Division III Football Team. Each of the three Thunder standouts earned a spot on the Second Team Academic All-American unit. Wheaton's three selections this season marks the sixth time in team history that the program has had multiple selections in the same year. In 2021, Wheaton set a school record with four honorees, and in 2023, 2022, 2011 and 1976 Wheaton had two Academic All-Americans.

Nussbaum (PICTURED LEFT) is a Business/Economics and Psychology double-major at Wheaton with a 3.91 cumulative grade point average. Nussbaum is a two-time All-CCIW selection on the Thunder offensive line. He is a three-time Academic All-CCIW honoree for the Thunder. Nussbaum was a critical component of the Thunder offensive line this season. The Thunder finished in the top-25 in Division III this season in scoring offense, passing offense and total offense. Nussbaum and the Thunder offensive line helped Wheaton to 45.1 points per game with 449.1 yards of offense per game. The Thunder running game put up 145.7 yards per game on the ground and Wheaton passed for 303.4 yards per game.
 

Bracy is a Business and Economics major with a 3.86 cumulative grade point average at Wheaton. He earned All-CCIW honors this season, playing in all 14 games for the Thunder. Bracy registered 41 tackles, including 28 solos. He led the Thunder defense with 13 passes broken-up and two interceptions.

Smith is a Biochemistry & Molecular Biology major at Wheaton with a 3.69 cumulative GPA. Last month, Smith became the first Wheaton punter to earn an All-America award from D3football.com in the 27-year history of the website's All-America team when he was named a Fourth Team All-American. Additionally, he was a First Team All-Region pick by the website and was also an All-CCIW honoree this fall. Smith recorded 29 punts in 2025 for a total of 1,329 yards. His 45.8 yards per punt average led the CCIW and the mark shattered Wheaton's previous single-season school record of 40.6 yards per punt that was set in 2019. A special teams weapon for the Thunder this season, 12 of Smith's 29 punts landed inside the 20-yard line and 10 of his punts were of 50 or more yards. 

Student-athletes from Wheaton have earned a total of 123 Academic All-America selections since 1973 through the esteemed program. Wheaton Athletics currently has a streak of having at least one student-athlete recognized as an Academic All-American in every academic year since 1998-99. 
 

There have been 31 Wheaton College football Academic All-America selections among 24 players since the program began: Bill Hyer (1973); Eugene Campbell (1975 & 1976); Craig Carter (1976); Paul Sternenberg (1988), Bart Moseman (1992); Pedro Arruza (1993, 1994 & 1995); Jeff Brown (1995); Chip Parrish (1996); Dane Lundgren (2002); James Hoxworth (2003); Andrew Day (2005); J.J. Clark (2011); Scott Roche (2011), Eric Stevenson (2017 & 2018) and Corey Kennedy (2018 & 2019); Luke Anthony (2021); Caleb Egbert (2021); Ryan Schwartz (2021); Sam Bell (2022); Giovanni Weeks (2021, 2022 & 2023); Trevor Gabriele (2023); Bracy (2025); Nussbaum (2025) and Smith (2025).

The CSC Academic All-America® program honors student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level in athletics and in the classroom. Select members of the Academic All-District®  squads in each Division advance to the national ballot, where they have the opportunity to be selected for the Academic All-America Team. Individuals are selected through voting by CSC; a 2,000-plus member organization consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.50 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution. Since the program's inception in 1952, CSC (formerly known as CoSIDA) has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Division I, II, III, NAIA and junior colleges covering all NCAA championship sports.