In some minds the stereotypical college football lineman might be a guy right off the farm who is long on bulk but maybe not as much on brains. Well Northeastern State University senior Madison Wrather blows that image right out of the water. A starter in 22-straight games for the RiverHawks, the fifth-year senior was one of 26 players named this summer as a College Sports Information Directors of America First-Team Academic All-American. He was one of only four players who had a perfect 4.0 GPA.

“I think my intelligence has helped me a lot on the field,” said Wrather who hails from Yukon where he was the senior class valedictorian. “When I study film, I can find tendencies of opposing defenses which gives me an edge because I don’t consider myself to be an A-plus athlete.”

Wrather has degrees in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Business Administration. His work in molecular biology has included working with PCR technology, a laboratory technique used to amplify DNA sequences, which was the basis for developing Covid-19 testing. 

Though the RiverHawks have struggled on the field during Wrather’s tenure, he sees change coming.

“I’m starting to see the culture change on the team and as a senior, keeping that change going is important to me given the large number of younger kids we’ll have this year,” said the 6-4, 314 pound left tackle.

One of the reasons Wrather picked NSU out of high School was their excellent optometry school where he’s hoping to attend following his up-coming senior campaign. There are other pluses about the Tahlequah school that Wrather feels are good for prospective students to know.

“At NSU you can do anything you could want to do in college and in athletics. For me the coaching staff has been understanding of my academic goals and the professors have been great at working with athletes. Even for non-athletes, NSU is not too big or too small and has a good family feel to it. Classes aren’t too big, and you don’t ever feel like you’re just lost in the shuffle.”