A total of 10 Missouri Valley Football Conference student-athletes have been selected to the AFCA Coaches FCS All-America Team, announced Friday, Dec. 20.
MVFC Selections
FIRST TEAM
OL - Drew Himmelman, Illinois State
OL - Dillon Radunz, North Dakota State
RB - James Robinson, Illinois State
DL - Elerson G. Smith, Northern Iowa
LB - Christian Rozeboom, South Dakota State
DB - Luther Kirk, Illinois State
SECOND TEAM
TE - Ben Ellefson, North Dakota State
QB - Trey Lance, North Dakota State
DL - Derrek Tuszka, North Dakota State
DB - Jeremy Chinn, Southern Illinois
WACO, TEX. — Illinois State running back James Robinson and Montana linebacker Dante Olson headline the 2019 AFCA?Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)?Coaches’ All-America Team announced today by the American Football Coaches Association.
The AFCA has selected an All-America team since 1945 and currently selects teams in all five of its divisions. What makes these teams so special is that they are the only ones chosen exclusively by the men who know the players the best — the coaches themselves.
Robinson led the Missouri Valley Football Conference in rushing yards (1,917), yards per game (127.8) and touchdowns (18). He recorded eight 100-plus yard rushing efforts, including a school-record breaking 297-yard effort in the first-round at Southeast Missouri State. After leading the FCS in tackles for two-straight seasons, Olson repeated as an AFCA All-American after breaking the Big Sky record for tackles in a season with 179. In just two seasons as a starter, Olson became Montana’s all-time leader in tackles with 397 stops. He also added 11 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and four passes defended.
Team Background: The five teams now chosen for each AFCA?division evolved from a single 11-player squad. From 1945 until 1967, only one team was chosen. From 1967 through 1971, two teams, University Division and College Division, were selected. In 1972, the College Division was split into College I and College II. In 1979, the University Division was split into two teams — Division I-A and Division I-AA. In 1996, the College I and College II teams were renamed Division II?and Division III,?respectively. In 2006, the Division I-A and Division I-AA teams were renamed Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)?and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS),?respectively. In 2006, the AFCA started selecting an NAIA-only team. From 1965-81, a 22-player (11 offensive, 11 defensive) team was chosen. In 1982, a punter and placekicker were added to the team. A return specialist was added in 1997, giving us the current 25-player team. The return specialist position was replaced by an all-purpose player in 2006. The AFCA added a second team in 2016.
Top Teams: North Dakota State has the most AFCA All-America selections of any current FCS school with 33 selections by 30 players. The Bison are followed by Delaware (32/29), Montana (30/28), Eastern Kentucky (28/26), Eastern Washington (28/24), James Madison (23/23), Northern Iowa (23/20), Weber State (22/21), Furman (21/20), Grambling State (21/20), South Carolina State (21/19), Lehigh (20/20), New Hampshire (20/17), North Dakota (19/17), South Dakota State (19/14), Portland State (18/17), Eastern Illinois (18/16), Youngstown State (18/16), Western Illinois (17/16), Northern Colorado (17/14), Montana State (16/16), Towson (16/16), Tennessee State (16/15), Illinois State (16/14), Cal Poly (16/14), McNeese (16/14), UC Davis (16/14), Abilene Christian (15/14), Florida A&M (15/14) and Stephen F. Austin (15/14).
Class Distinction:?This year’s AFCA?FCS Coaches’ All-America Team is made up of 31 seniors, 16 juniors, one sophomore, one freshman and one graduate student.
Consecutive Years: Eastern Kentucky leads all schools, having had at least one player named to the AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team in each of the first 15 years an FCS team was chosen (1979-93). South Dakota State has the longest current streak at six years from 2014 to present.
Back-to-Back:?San Diego wide receiver Michael Bandy, Illinois State running back James Robinson, Montana linebacker Dante Olson, Bucknell punter Alex Pechin, East Tennessee State defensive lineman Nasir Player, Southeast Missouri State linebacker Zach Hall, Dartmouth defensive back Isiah Swann and Florida A&M punter Chris Faddoul earned AFCA FCS?Coaches’ All-America honors for a second consecutive season in 2019. South Dakota State linebacker Christian Rozeboom and Kennesaw State linebacker Bryson Armstrong earned their second honor in 2019 after being named All-American in 2017.
First Time School: Houston Baptist earned AFCA All-America honors for the first time in 2019 when Andre Walker was named as a defensive lineman.
Double Duo: Tennessee-Chattanooga teammates Keionta Davis (DL) and Corey Levin (OL) earned back-to-back honors for the first time in FCS Coaches’ All-America Team history when they were both named to the 2015 and 2016 teams. They join seven duos in FBS: USC’s Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush (2004 and 2005); Army’s Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard (1945 and 1946); Notre Dame’s George Connor and Johnny Lujack (1946 and 1947); Michigan State’s Bubba Smith and George Webster (1966 and 1967); Ohio State’s Jack Tatum and Jim Stillwagon (1969 and 1970); Notre Dame’s Ken MacAfee and Ross Browner (1976 and 1977) and Colorado’s Joe Garten and Alfred Will-iams (1989 and 1990).
Long Time Coming: Running back Alex Ramsay made the AFCA FCS All-America Team for VMI, marking the first time the Keydets have had a representative since 1996, when running back Thomas Haskins made the team.
Repeat After Me: Eastern Washington wide receiver Cooper Kupp (2013-16) joins Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Johnny Bailey as the only players to earn AFCA Coaches’ All-America honors in four consecutive years at any level. Bailey was a four-year pick at running back in Division II from 1986-89.
Third Time’s A Charm: San Diego offensive lineman Daniel Cooney (2016-18) joins South Dakota State running back Zach Zenner (2012-14), Tennessee-Chattanooga defensive lineman Davis Tull (2012-14), and linebackers Gary Reasons of Northwestern State (1981-83) and Dexter Coakley of Appalachian State (1994-96), as the only three-time AFCA All-Americans in Football Championship Subdivision history.
Yearly Leaders: James Madison joins North Dakota State and Jacksonville State as the only schools to land four players on the AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team in one year. JMU’s came in 2019 (Liam Fornadel, 1st team OL; Ben DiNucci, 1st team QB; Ron’Dell Carter, 1st team DL; D’Angelo Amos, 1st team AP) while JSU’s came in 2017 (Darius Jackson, 1st team DL; Siran Neal, 1st team DB; Justin Lea, 2nd team OL; Roc Thomas, 2nd team RB). North Dakota State has done it twice with their 2018 and 2019 selections (2019: Dillon Radunz, 1st team OL; Ben Ellefson, 2nd team TE; Trey Lance, 2nd team QB; Derrek Tuszka, 2nd team DL; 2018:Tanner Volson, 1st team OL; Greg Menard, 1st team DL; Easton Stick, 2nd team QB; Jabril Cox, 2nd team LB). Sixteen schools have placed three student-athletes on the AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team in one year, with two of those coming in 2019 (Illinois State and Monmouth (N.J.)).
Three Players, Two Schools:?Placekicker Cole Tracy joins punter Mark Bounds and placekicker Greg Zuerlein as the only players to earn AFCA Coaches’ All-America honors at two different schools. Tracy earned second team AFCA All-America honors in Division II at Assumption College in 2017, then transferred to LSU in 2018 and earned second team FBS All-America honors. Bounds was named to the AFCA?College Division I?team in 1990 while playing for West Texas A&M. He transferred to Texas Tech after West Texas dropped football and earned I-A All-America honors as a Red Raider in 1991. Zuerlein was named to the Division II Coaches’ All-America Team in 2009 while playing for Nebraska-Omaha. He transferred to Missouri Western State after Nebraska-Omaha dropped its football program and earned AFCA Division II honors in 2011 as a Griffon.
One Player, Two Positions:?Bethel’s (Tenn.) Stoney Burns and Baker’s Clarence Clark are the only players in AFCA All-America Team history at all levels to repeat as AFCA All-Americans at two different positions. Burns was named to the 2013 squad as a defensive back, then earned 2014 honors at all-purpose. Clark was named to the 2015 squad as a receiver, then earned 2016 honors as a place-kicker.