Four-time pick Kupp leads STATS FCS All-Americans

(STATS) - The top candidates for national offensive and defensive player of the year headline the 2016 STATS FCS All-America Team, announced Tuesday.

Quarterbacks Jeremiah Briscoe of Sam Houston State and Gage Gubrud of Eastern Washington and Eagles wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who have been invited to the announcement of the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award, along with Missouri State linebacker Dylan Cole and defensive ends P.J. Hall of Sam Houston State and Karter Schult of Northern Iowa, the three at the announcement of the STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award, are part of the All-America team that features 100 players from 60 schools across all 13 FCS conferences.

CAA Football has the most All-Americans with 16, one more than the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which had the most first-team selections with seven, and the Southern (12) and the Big Sky (11) conferences also reached double figures. Charleston Southern, James Madison and North Dakota State had the high among schools with four selections each.

The first-team quarterback honors between Briscoe and Gubrud will be determined by the Payton Award voting, whose top three will be revealed January 6 at the STATS FCS Awards Banquet in Frisco, Texas.

Briscoe, a redshirt junior, set the FCS single-season record with 57 touchdown passes and threw for 4,602 yards for Sam Houston, which was the only unbeaten FCS team in the regular season. Gubrud, a redshirt sophomore, set the FCS record with 5,160 passing yards and threw 48 touchdowns. He led the nation with 5,766 total yards, just 33 shy of Steve McNair's FCS record at Alcorn State in 1994.

Nobody knows the All-America first team quite like Kupp, who made it for the fourth time. The fifth-year senior caught 117 passes for 1,700 yards and 17 touchdowns, scored two other TDs and threw for two more in another dominant season for Eastern Washington.

"His biggest attribute is his consistency, and that he continues to find ways to produce when everybody's eyes are on him," Eagles coach Beau Baldwin said.

"Plus, he has the guts and the toughness not to be worried about any moment - he just goes out and gets it done."

Cole will head to the announcement of the Buck Buchanan Award, also January 6 at the national banquet, with an FCS-high 142 tackles. Schult had 17 sacks - the Division I high - and 24 tackles for loss, while Hall had 24 1/2 tackles for loss and 11 sacks.

The rest of the first-team offense was running backs Tarik Cohen of North Carolina A&T and Chase Edmonds of Fordham, fullback Joe Protheroe of Cal Poly, wide receiver Karel Hamilton of Samford, tight end Dallas Goedert of South Dakota State, and offensive linemen Julie'n Davenport of Bucknell, Casey Dunn of Jacksonville State, Zack Johnson of North Dakota State, Mitch Kirsch of James Madison and Brandon Parker of North Carolina A&T.

On defense, the other first-team selections were defensive linemen Keionta Davis of Chattanooga and Tanoh Kpassagnon of Villanova, linebackers Folarin Orimolade of Dartmouth, Christian Kuntz of Duquesne and Brett Taylor of Western Illinois, and defensive backs Dee Delaney of The Citadel, Lorenzo Jerome of Saint Francis, Donald Payne of Stetson and Cole Reyes of North Dakota.

The first-team special teams selections were kicker David Marvin of Wofford, punter Miles Bergner of South Dakota, long snapper Joshua Appel of Indiana State, kick returner Darius Hammond of Charleston Southern, punt returner Rashad Davis of James Madison and all-purpose selection John Lovett of Princeton.

The offensive players of the year in eight conferences and defensive players of the year in 12 conferences made the All-America team.

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2016 STATS FCS ALL-AMERICA TEAM=

FIRST TEAM

OFFENSE

*-To be determined by STATS FCS Walter Payton Award results

*QB - Jeremiah Briscoe, junior, 6-3, 220, Sam Houston State, or Gage Gubrud, sophomore, 6-2, 195, Eastern Washington

RB - Tarik Cohen, senior, 5-6, 173, North Carolina A&T

RB - Chase Edmonds, junior, 5-9, 196, Fordham

FB - Joe Protheroe, junior, 6-0, 225, Cal Poly

WR - Karel Hamilton, senior, 6-1, 202, Samford

WR - Cooper Kupp, senior, 6-2, 215, Eastern Washington

TE - Dallas Goedert, junior, 6-5, 250, South Dakota State

OL - Julie'n Davenport, senior, 6-7, 315, Bucknell

OL - Casey Dunn, senior, 6-3, 290, Jacksonville State

OL - Zack Johnson, senior, 6-4, 329, North Dakota State

OL - Mitch Kirsch, senior, 6-6, 290, James Madison

OL - Brandon Parker, junior, 6-7, 299, North Carolina A&T

DEFENSE

DL - Keionta Davis, senior, 6-4, 270, Chattanooga

DL - P.J. Hall, junior, 6-1, 280, Sam Houston State

DL - Tanoh Kpassagnon, senior, 6-7, 275, Villanova

DL - Karter Schult, senior, 6-2, 265, Northern Iowa

LB - Dylan Cole, senior, 6-1, 240, Missouri State

LB - Folarin Orimolade, senior, 5-11, 240, Dartmouth

LB - Christian Kuntz, senior, 6-1, 220, Duquesne

LB - Brett Taylor, junior, 6-2, 230, Western Illinois

DB - Dee Delaney, junior, 6-1, 193, The Citadel

DB - Lorenzo Jerome, senior, 6-0, 195, Saint Francis

DB - Donald Payne, senior, 6-1, 219, Stetson

DB - Cole Reyes, junior, 6-2, 215, North Dakota

SPECIAL TEAMS

PK - David Marvin, junior, 6-2, 210, Wofford

P - Miles Bergner, senior, 6-0, 225, South Dakota

LS - Joshua Appel, senior, 6-2, 250, Indiana State

KR - Darius Hammond, senior, 5-10, 192, Charleston Southern

PR - Rashard Davis, senior, 5-9, 175, James Madison

AP - John Lovett, junior, 6-3, 225, Princeton

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SECOND TEAM

OFFENSE

*QB - Jeremiah Briscoe, junior, 6-3, 220, Sam Houston State, or Gage Gubrud, sophomore, 6-2, 195, Eastern Washington

RB - Khalid Abdullah, senior, 5-10, 220 James Madison

RB - De'Angelo Henderson, senior, 5-8, 205, Coastal Carolina

FB - Lorenzo Long, senior, 5-9, 205, Wofford

WR - Brian Brown, senior, 6-2, 205, Richmond

WR - Justin Watson, junior, 6-3, 210, Penn

WR - Jake Wieneke, junior, 6-4, 215, South Dakota State

TE - Eric Saubert, senior, 6-5, 251, Drake

OL - Erik Austell, senior, 6-4, 285, Charleston Southern

OL - Jessamen Dunker, senior, 6-5, 290, Tennessee State

OL - J.P. Flynn, senior, 6-5, 320, Montana State

OL - Corey Levin, senior, 6-5, 305, Chattanooga

OL - Timon Parris, junior, 6-5, 310, Stony Brook

OL - Isaiah Pinson, junior, 6-3, 267, The Citadel

DEFENSE

DL - Pat Afriyie, junior, 6-2, 235, Colgate

DL - Winston Craig, senior, 6-4, 290, Richmond

DL - Anthony Ellis, junior, 6-1, 245, Charleston Southern

DL - Darius Jackson, junior, 6-3, 237, Jacksonville State

DL - Derek Rivers, senior, 6-5, 250, Youngstown State

LB - Austin Calitro, senior, 6-0, 245, Villanova

LB - Chad Geter, senior, 6-2, 253, Gardner-Webb

LB - Darius Leonard, junior, 6-3, 220, South Carolina State

LB - Alex Searce, senior, 6-3, 220, Coastal Carolina

DB - Mike Basile, junior, 6-1, 200, Monmouth

DB - Casey DeAndrade, senior, 5-11, 212, New Hampshire

DB - Tre Dempsey, junior, 5-10, 179, North Dakota State

DB - Brendan Langley, senior, 6-2, 193, Lamar

DB - Ezra Robinson, senior, 6-1, 180, Tennessee State

SPECIAL TEAMS

PK - Griffin Trau, sophomore, 5-8, 180, Richmond

P - Tate Lewis, senior, 6-6, 230, Southern Utah

LS - James Fisher, junior, 6-2, 216, North Dakota State

KR - John Santiago, sophomore, 5-9, 180, North Dakota

PR - Khalid Thomas, senior, 5-10, 175, Alabama State

AP - Detrez Newsome, junior, 5-10, 210, Western Carolina

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THIRD TEAM

OFFENSE

QB - Taryn Christion, sophomore, 6-2, 215, South Dakota State

QB - Devlin Hodges, sophomore, 6-1, 213, Samford

RB - Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks, sophomore, 5-9, 199, Albany

RB - Lenard Tillery, senior, 5-10, 200, Southern

FB - Chase Morlock, senior, 6-0, 233, North Dakota State

FB - Tyler Renew, senior, 5-11, 217, The Citadel

WR - Lance Lenoir, senior, 6-0, 210, Western Illinois

WR - Kamron Lewis, sophomore, 6-4, 195, Saint Francis

WR - Troy Pelletier, junior, 6-3, 205, Lehigh

TE - Andrew Vollert, junior, 6-5, 245, Weber State

OL - Bridge Blount, senior, 5-10, 295, Sam Houston State

OL - Matt Fisher, senior, 6-5, 280, Cal Poly

OL - Ben Huss, junior, 6-2, 307 Duquesne

OL - Voghens Larrieux, senior, 6-5, 290, Coastal Carolina

OL - Jerry Ugokwe, senior, 6-8, 305, William & Mary

OL - Anton Wahrby, senior, 6-5, 300, Wofford

DEFENSE

DL - Siupeli Anau, senior, 6-3, 250, Northern Arizona

DL - Samson Ebukam, senior, 6-3, 240, Eastern Washington

DL - Kurt Holuba, junior, 6-4, 270, Princeton

DL - Javancy Jones, senior, 6-2, 245, Jackson State

DL - Patrick Ricard, senior, 6-3, 285, Maine

LB - Darien Anderson, senior, 6-1, 240, Alcorn State

LB - Solomon Brown, sophomore, 6-1, 220, Charleston Southern

LB - Garrett Dolan, junior, 6-2, 240, Houston Baptist

LB - Nakevion Leslie, senior, 5-11, 225, Chattanooga

DB - LeRoy Alexander, senior, 6-0, 195, Youngstown State

DB - Marlon Bridges, freshman, 6-1, 210, Jacksonville State

DB - Taylor Reynolds, senior, 6-0, 195, James Madison

DB - Tyler Williams, senior, 6-1, 194, Central Arkansas

SPECIAL TEAMS

PK - Lane Clark, junior, 5-11, 170, Tennessee State

PK - Eric Medina, junior, 5-11, 195, Texas Southern

P - Jake Ryder, senior, 6-0, 180, Towson

LS - Hunter Winstead, junior, 6-0, 240, Liberty

KR - Shane Simpson, freshman, 5-9, 185, Towson

PR - Jake Wieczorek, senior, 6-0, 195, Holy Cross

AP - Jonah Hodges, senior, 5-10, 194, San Diego