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