KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) announced their 2025 NAIA AFCA All-American selections ahead of the 2025 NAIA Football Championship Series semifinals.
 
Brodrick Smith earned NAIA AFCA Third Team All-American honors at Special Teams for his work as the Bluejays' punter this season. Smith recorded video game numbers, with 61 total punts for 2455 yards, averaging 40.25 yards-per-punt with a longest punt of 65 yards. He booted 28 punts inside opponents' 20-yard lines to lead the NAIA, while recording 12 fair catches and seven touchbacks and eight punts for over 50 yards. 
 
"He (Smith) was one of the reasons why we stayed in games, because he is able to flip the field so well", remarked Head Coach Mike Gardner. "Let's face it, it is not easy punting in the wind in Kansas, and there were a couple games this season where he still averaged over 37 yards going into the wind. I cannot say enough good things about him, his ability to convert from coming in as a defensive lineman to a punter when he hadn't punted since high school is incredible to me and is a really cool story."
 
A.J. King earned the nod to the NAIA AFCA All-American Third Team as an all-purpose returner. King had a monster first season in Hillsboro both on the offensive side of the ball as well as on special teams; recording 347 punt-return yards on 13 punts, averaging 26.69 yards-per-return and taking two punts back to the house for touchdowns, with a longest return of 92 yards. In addition to his work on the punt return team, he recorded 602 kick return yards on 27 kickoffs, averaging 22.30 yards-per-return, with a longest return of 39 yards.
 
"There are not enough words to describe A.J.'s impact on our football team this year, he made us competitive", remarked Coach Gardner. "His catch-to-target percentage is well over 85%, defenses had to account for him. It is one thing to kick away from a guy on kickoffs, but it is another thing to try to punt away from a guy, you just can't do it very well. Our punt team and punt return team should get credit for this as well, they did a great job, it was a group effort."
 
The Bluejays finished their season with a 5-6 overall record and a 3-2 record in KCAC Kessinger Division play.
 
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