Media Relations
Media Relations
December 14, 2011 - For Immediate Release
Jacque Cottrell, Director Great West Conference P.O. Box 9344 Naperville, Ill. 60567 Phone: (630) 428-4492 Fax: (630) 548-0705
Cal Poly (Football) • UC Davis (Football) • Chicago State • Houston Baptist • New Jersey Institute of Technology North Dakota • South Dakota (Football) • Southern Utah (Football) • Texas-Pan American • Utah Valley
All-Time Great West Football Team Announced With the football portion of the Great West Conference coming to an end and one of the original members still alive in the 2011 Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, it is a good time to release the all-time Great West team, as selected by interested observers of the league over the years. The Great West had a great eight-year run of excellence in the FCS ranks and some considered the league to be one of the finest top to bottom within the timeframe. The Gridiron Power Index consistently ranked the league as the best in the FCS from 2004-2007, and even with the departures and additions in 2008, the Great West continued to be ranked in the top four among the FCS leagues. Heading the All-Time Great West team are three individuals who were named Buchanan Award winners from 2004-2006 - linebacker Jordan Beck, defensive lineman Chris Gocong and linebacker Kyle Shotwell from Cal Poly. All three players put the Great West on the map in the early stages of the league and all three played in the National Football League, with Gocong still active. Beck had 132 tackles to lead the Great West in 2004, Gocong led the country in sacks with 19 in 2005, and Shotwell led the nation in tackles for loss with 21 in 2006. The defensive backfield is led by a trio of players who earned All-America honors in their careers - Asa Jackson of Cal Poly, the only defensive player to be named first-team All-Great West all four years and was named Defensive Player of the Year two years, Kenny Chicoine from Cal Poly who led the league in interceptions with seven in 2004, and Reed Doughty from Northern Colorado who led the nation in total tackles in 2005 (159). On offense, three all-American wide receivers and a quarterback who did nothing but win lead the way. Northern Colorado’s Vincent Jackson played in the Great West just one year, but he set quite a benchmark with 80 catches for 1,382 yards (2nd in FCS) and 11 touchdowns in 2004 before heading to the NFL. Ramses Barden played on team with the triple option offense at Cal Poly, but he became a focal point as the third option with 134 receptions for 2,724 yards and 36 touchdowns in 2007 and 2008 in earning back-toback Offensive Player of the Year honors, while Southern Utah’s Tysson Poots averaged 84.33 receptions and 1,182 receiving yards and 13.33 TDs in his final three years for the Thunderbirds and was named the 2010 Offensive Player of the Year. The quarterback of our All-Time Great West team had a record of 20-2 in his junior and senior years as a starter at North Dakota State. Steve Walker’s TDINT ratio may not have been the greatest at 36-14, but all he did was win. He led the Bison to their first first No. 1 ranking at the FCS level and three victories over FBS teams (Minnesota, Ball State, Western Michigan). In the special teams area, punter Mike Dragosavich’s name will never appear in any NCAA record book, but you can’t blame him - his offense kept moving the ball and his number of attempts never met the minimums required in the statistical standards. The North Dakota State punter averaged an FCS-high 46.2 per punt in 2006 and he followed that up with a 45.4 averaged in 2007, which would have ranked second if he had enough punts recorded. Two-time all-conference performer Parker Douglass from South Dakota State is the all-time Great West kicker after averaging 15.5 field goals per season from 2006-07 - five of his field goals were from 50 or more yards, including an all-time Great West best of 57 yards vs. Stephen F. Austin on Sept. 27, 2007. Return Specialist Nick Miller from Southern Utah led the FCS ranks in all-purpose yards in 2008 and was named GWC Special Teams Player of the Year that season, while NDSU’s Shamen Washington returned both a kickoff and a punt for a score in earning the same honor in 2007. The all-time coach went to Cal Poly’s Rich Ellerson, who led the Mustangs to three league titles and two trips into the FCS playoffs. The 2005 Cal Poly team shared the league title with UC Davis, but was granted an at-large invitation to the playoffs where the Mustangs knocked off perennial power Montana, 35-21, before bowing out in the next round at Texas State, 14-7. Ellerson was named Great West Coach of the Year on three occasions (2004, 2005, 2008) and had his team ranked as high as No.3 at one point before leaving San Luis Obispo for the head coaching job at Army.
Conference Headquarters • P.O. Box 9344 • Naperville, IL 60567 • Phone: (630) 428-4492 • Fax: (630) 548-0705
www.greatwestconference.org
All-Time Great West Conference Football Team Offense Pos. WR WR WR TE OL OL OL OL C QB RB RB RB FB K KR PR
Player Ramses Barden Vincent Jackson Tysson Poots Dean Rogers Nate Safe Tom Compton Jonathan Compas Mitch Erickson Stephen Field Steve Walker James Noble Kyle Steffes Austin Minefee Jake Romanelli Parker Douglass Shamen Washington Nick Miller
Institution Cal Poly Northern Colorado Southern Utah UC Davis North Dakota State South Dakota UC Davis South Dakota State Cal Poly North Dakota State Cal Poly North Dakota State Southern Utah Cal Poly South Dakota State North Dakota State Southern Utah
Notes 2-time Off. Player of the Year (2007, 2008); 2-time All-America 2004 Offensive Player of the Year; 2004 All-America 2010 Offensive Player of the Year; 3-time All-America 2010 All-America; 3-time All-Conference 2006 All-America; 3-time All-Conference 2010 All-America; 2-time All-Conference 2008 All-America; 3-time All-Conference 3-time All-Conference 4-time All-Conference; 2-time All-America (2006, 2008) 2-time Offensive Player of the Year (2006, 2007) 2005 Offensive Player/Rookie of the Year; 2-time All-Conference 1,006 yards in 2004, 1,071 in 2005, 1,250 in 2,006 2-time All-Conference; 9th in FCS in all-purpose yards in 2011 2-time All-Conference; 1,015 yards in 2011 2-time Special Teams Player of the Year (2005, 2006) 2007 Special Teams Player of the Year 2008 Special Teams Player of the Year
Defense Pos. DL DL DL DL LB LB LB LB DB DB DB DB DB DB P
Player Chris Gocong John Falatoese James Amos Tyler Osborne Jordan Beck Kyle Shotwell Joe Mays Akeem Anifowoshe Asa Jackson Craig Dahl Courtney Brown Reed Doughty Colin Pretlow Kenny Chicoine Mike Dragosavich
Coach Rich Ellerson
Institution Cal Poly UC Davis UC Davis Southern Utah Cal Poly Cal Poly North Dakota State Southern Utah Cal Poly North Dakota State Cal Poly Northern Colorado Southern Utah Cal Poly North Dakota State
Notes 2005 Buchanan Award Winner; 2-time All-America (2004, 2005) 2008 Defensive Player of the Year; 2008 All-America 2-Time All-Conference 2011 Defensive Player of the Year; 2-time All-Conference 2004 Buchanan Award Winner 2006 Buchanan Award Winner; 2006 All-America 2007 Defensive Player of the Year; 2007 All-America 3-time All-Conference 2-time Defensive Player of the Year; 4-time All-Conference 2-time All-Conference 2-time All-Conference; drafted by Dallas in 2007 2005 All-America; led I-AA in tackles with 159 in 2005 3-time All-Conference 2-time All-America (2004, 2006) 2-time All-Conference
Cal Poly
3 titles; 3-time Coach of the Year; 2-time FCS Playoffs
Great West Conference Football Award Winners Offensive Player of the Year 2004 - WR Vincent Jackson, Northern Colorado 2005 - QB Jon Grant, UC Davis and RB James Noble, Cal Poly 2006 - QB Steve Walker, North Dakota State 2007 - WR Ramses Barden, Cal Poly and QB Steve Walker, North Dakota State 2008 - WR Ramses Barden, Cal Poly 2009 - WR Chris Carter, UC Davis 2010 - WR Tysson Poots, Southern Utah 2011 - QB Brad Sorensen, Southern Utah Defensive Player of the Year 2004 - LB Jordan Beck, Cal Poly 2005 - DE Chris Gocong, Cal Poly 2006 - LB Kyle Shotwell, Cal Poly 2007 - LB Joe Mays, North Dakota State 2008 - DL John Faletoese, UC Davis 2009 - LB Mike Morales, UC Davis 2010 - LB Marty Mohamed, Cal Poly 2011 - DL Tyler Osborne, Southern Utah Coach of the Year 2004 - Rich Ellerson, Cal Poly 2005 - Rich Ellerson, Cal Poly 2006 - Craig Bohl, North Dakota State 2007 - John Stiegelmeier, South Dakota State 2008 - Rich Ellerson, Cal Poly 2009 - Bob Biggs, UC Davis 2010 - Ed Lamb, Southern Utah 2011 - Chris Mussman, North Dakota
Special Teams Player of the Year 2004 - Jesse Oliva, UC Davis 2005 - Parker Douglass, South Dakota State 2006 - Parker Douglass, South Dakota State 2007 - Shamen Washington, North Dakota State 2008 - Nick Miller, Southern Utah 2009 - Trevor Ward, Southern Utah 2010 - Cole Zwiefelhofer, South Dakota 2011 - Austin Minefee, Southern Utah Rookie of the Year 2004 - Bradon Godfrey, Southern Utah 2005 - James Noble, Cal Poly 2006 - Chris Carter, UC Davis 2007 - Jason Cox, Cal Poly 2008 - Asa Jackson, Cal Poly 2009 - Mitch Sutton, North Dakota 2010 - Randy Wright, UC Davis 2011 - Brady Measom, Southern Utah
December 14, 2011 - For Immediate Release
Jacque Cottrell, Director Great West Conference P.O. Box 9344 Naperville, Ill. 60567 Phone: (630) 428-4492 Fax: (630) 548-0705
Cal Poly (Football) • UC Davis (Football) • Chicago State • Houston Baptist • New Jersey Institute of Technology North Dakota • South Dakota (Football) • Southern Utah (Football) • Texas-Pan American • Utah Valley
All-Time Great West Football Team Announced With the football portion of the Great West Conference coming to an end and one of the original members still alive in the 2011 Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, it is a good time to release the all-time Great West team, as selected by interested observers of the league over the years. The Great West had a great eight-year run of excellence in the FCS ranks and some considered the league to be one of the finest top to bottom within the timeframe. The Gridiron Power Index consistently ranked the league as the best in the FCS from 2004-2007, and even with the departures and additions in 2008, the Great West continued to be ranked in the top four among the FCS leagues. Heading the All-Time Great West team are three individuals who were named Buchanan Award winners from 2004-2006 - linebacker Jordan Beck, defensive lineman Chris Gocong and linebacker Kyle Shotwell from Cal Poly. All three players put the Great West on the map in the early stages of the league and all three played in the National Football League, with Gocong still active. Beck had 132 tackles to lead the Great West in 2004, Gocong led the country in sacks with 19 in 2005, and Shotwell led the nation in tackles for loss with 21 in 2006. The defensive backfield is led by a trio of players who earned All-America honors in their careers - Asa Jackson of Cal Poly, the only defensive player to be named first-team All-Great West all four years and was named Defensive Player of the Year two years, Kenny Chicoine from Cal Poly who led the league in interceptions with seven in 2004, and Reed Doughty from Northern Colorado who led the nation in total tackles in 2005 (159). On offense, three all-American wide receivers and a quarterback who did nothing but win lead the way. Northern Colorado’s Vincent Jackson played in the Great West just one year, but he set quite a benchmark with 80 catches for 1,382 yards (2nd in FCS) and 11 touchdowns in 2004 before heading to the NFL. Ramses Barden played on team with the triple option offense at Cal Poly, but he became a focal point as the third option with 134 receptions for 2,724 yards and 36 touchdowns in 2007 and 2008 in earning back-toback Offensive Player of the Year honors, while Southern Utah’s Tysson Poots averaged 84.33 receptions and 1,182 receiving yards and 13.33 TDs in his final three years for the Thunderbirds and was named the 2010 Offensive Player of the Year. The quarterback of our All-Time Great West team had a record of 20-2 in his junior and senior years as a starter at North Dakota State. Steve Walker’s TDINT ratio may not have been the greatest at 36-14, but all he did was win. He led the Bison to their first first No. 1 ranking at the FCS level and three victories over FBS teams (Minnesota, Ball State, Western Michigan). In the special teams area, punter Mike Dragosavich’s name will never appear in any NCAA record book, but you can’t blame him - his offense kept moving the ball and his number of attempts never met the minimums required in the statistical standards. The North Dakota State punter averaged an FCS-high 46.2 per punt in 2006 and he followed that up with a 45.4 averaged in 2007, which would have ranked second if he had enough punts recorded. Two-time all-conference performer Parker Douglass from South Dakota State is the all-time Great West kicker after averaging 15.5 field goals per season from 2006-07 - five of his field goals were from 50 or more yards, including an all-time Great West best of 57 yards vs. Stephen F. Austin on Sept. 27, 2007. Return Specialist Nick Miller from Southern Utah led the FCS ranks in all-purpose yards in 2008 and was named GWC Special Teams Player of the Year that season, while NDSU’s Shamen Washington returned both a kickoff and a punt for a score in earning the same honor in 2007. The all-time coach went to Cal Poly’s Rich Ellerson, who led the Mustangs to three league titles and two trips into the FCS playoffs. The 2005 Cal Poly team shared the league title with UC Davis, but was granted an at-large invitation to the playoffs where the Mustangs knocked off perennial power Montana, 35-21, before bowing out in the next round at Texas State, 14-7. Ellerson was named Great West Coach of the Year on three occasions (2004, 2005, 2008) and had his team ranked as high as No.3 at one point before leaving San Luis Obispo for the head coaching job at Army.
Conference Headquarters • P.O. Box 9344 • Naperville, IL 60567 • Phone: (630) 428-4492 • Fax: (630) 548-0705
www.greatwestconference.org
All-Time Great West Conference Football Team Offense Pos. WR WR WR TE OL OL OL OL C QB RB RB RB FB K KR PR
Player Ramses Barden Vincent Jackson Tysson Poots Dean Rogers Nate Safe Tom Compton Jonathan Compas Mitch Erickson Stephen Field Steve Walker James Noble Kyle Steffes Austin Minefee Jake Romanelli Parker Douglass Shamen Washington Nick Miller
Institution Cal Poly Northern Colorado Southern Utah UC Davis North Dakota State South Dakota UC Davis South Dakota State Cal Poly North Dakota State Cal Poly North Dakota State Southern Utah Cal Poly South Dakota State North Dakota State Southern Utah
Notes 2-time Off. Player of the Year (2007, 2008); 2-time All-America 2004 Offensive Player of the Year; 2004 All-America 2010 Offensive Player of the Year; 3-time All-America 2010 All-America; 3-time All-Conference 2006 All-America; 3-time All-Conference 2010 All-America; 2-time All-Conference 2008 All-America; 3-time All-Conference 3-time All-Conference 4-time All-Conference; 2-time All-America (2006, 2008) 2-time Offensive Player of the Year (2006, 2007) 2005 Offensive Player/Rookie of the Year; 2-time All-Conference 1,006 yards in 2004, 1,071 in 2005, 1,250 in 2,006 2-time All-Conference; 9th in FCS in all-purpose yards in 2011 2-time All-Conference; 1,015 yards in 2011 2-time Special Teams Player of the Year (2005, 2006) 2007 Special Teams Player of the Year 2008 Special Teams Player of the Year
Defense Pos. DL DL DL DL LB LB LB LB DB DB DB DB DB DB P
Player Chris Gocong John Falatoese James Amos Tyler Osborne Jordan Beck Kyle Shotwell Joe Mays Akeem Anifowoshe Asa Jackson Craig Dahl Courtney Brown Reed Doughty Colin Pretlow Kenny Chicoine Mike Dragosavich
Coach Rich Ellerson
Institution Cal Poly UC Davis UC Davis Southern Utah Cal Poly Cal Poly North Dakota State Southern Utah Cal Poly North Dakota State Cal Poly Northern Colorado Southern Utah Cal Poly North Dakota State
Notes 2005 Buchanan Award Winner; 2-time All-America (2004, 2005) 2008 Defensive Player of the Year; 2008 All-America 2-Time All-Conference 2011 Defensive Player of the Year; 2-time All-Conference 2004 Buchanan Award Winner 2006 Buchanan Award Winner; 2006 All-America 2007 Defensive Player of the Year; 2007 All-America 3-time All-Conference 2-time Defensive Player of the Year; 4-time All-Conference 2-time All-Conference 2-time All-Conference; drafted by Dallas in 2007 2005 All-America; led I-AA in tackles with 159 in 2005 3-time All-Conference 2-time All-America (2004, 2006) 2-time All-Conference
Cal Poly
3 titles; 3-time Coach of the Year; 2-time FCS Playoffs
Great West Conference Football Award Winners Offensive Player of the Year 2004 - WR Vincent Jackson, Northern Colorado 2005 - QB Jon Grant, UC Davis and RB James Noble, Cal Poly 2006 - QB Steve Walker, North Dakota State 2007 - WR Ramses Barden, Cal Poly and QB Steve Walker, North Dakota State 2008 - WR Ramses Barden, Cal Poly 2009 - WR Chris Carter, UC Davis 2010 - WR Tysson Poots, Southern Utah 2011 - QB Brad Sorensen, Southern Utah Defensive Player of the Year 2004 - LB Jordan Beck, Cal Poly 2005 - DE Chris Gocong, Cal Poly 2006 - LB Kyle Shotwell, Cal Poly 2007 - LB Joe Mays, North Dakota State 2008 - DL John Faletoese, UC Davis 2009 - LB Mike Morales, UC Davis 2010 - LB Marty Mohamed, Cal Poly 2011 - DL Tyler Osborne, Southern Utah Coach of the Year 2004 - Rich Ellerson, Cal Poly 2005 - Rich Ellerson, Cal Poly 2006 - Craig Bohl, North Dakota State 2007 - John Stiegelmeier, South Dakota State 2008 - Rich Ellerson, Cal Poly 2009 - Bob Biggs, UC Davis 2010 - Ed Lamb, Southern Utah 2011 - Chris Mussman, North Dakota
Special Teams Player of the Year 2004 - Jesse Oliva, UC Davis 2005 - Parker Douglass, South Dakota State 2006 - Parker Douglass, South Dakota State 2007 - Shamen Washington, North Dakota State 2008 - Nick Miller, Southern Utah 2009 - Trevor Ward, Southern Utah 2010 - Cole Zwiefelhofer, South Dakota 2011 - Austin Minefee, Southern Utah Rookie of the Year 2004 - Bradon Godfrey, Southern Utah 2005 - James Noble, Cal Poly 2006 - Chris Carter, UC Davis 2007 - Jason Cox, Cal Poly 2008 - Asa Jackson, Cal Poly 2009 - Mitch Sutton, North Dakota 2010 - Randy Wright, UC Davis 2011 - Brady Measom, Southern Utah
