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UC Davis Senior Tony Kays is No. 3 on The Sports Network's I-AA Wide Receiver List
June 14, 2006 PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - None of this year's I-AA wide receivers will match the professional accomplishments of Jerry Rice. That's not a slight, and it's not exactly a bold statement, either. The top I-A receivers won't challenge Jerry Rice's records. Even the best NFL receivers are going to pale in comparison to the greatest wideout and arguably the greatest player in the history of the game. UC Davis 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior Tony Kays is the lone representative from the Great West Football Conference on the I-AA wide receiver list compiled by Matt Dougherty of The Sports Network . Kays is No. 3 on the chart. Dougherty wrote, "The UC Davis offense was inconsistent in 2005, but no one could blame Tony Kays. On a team that averaged less than three yards per carry rushing the ball, Kays did all he could to keep the Aggie offense going by catching 93 passes for 1,213 yards and three touchdowns. Kays had never recorded more than six receptions in a game at the outset of the 2005 campaign, but he managed to notch double-digit catches in the first four contests of the season. Kays accumulated 12 receptions for 135 yards against New Hampshire, and had a school-record 15 catches with 165 yards and a score the next week against Portland State. In the Aggies' upset win at Stanford, Kays contributed in a big way with 10 receptions for 115 yards. Kays' other double-digit reception games came at an opportune time for the Aggies. He tallied 10 receptions for 182 yards and a score in an easy win against local rival Sacramento State, and had 13 catches for 212 yards as UC Davis knocked off Great West rival Cal Poly for the second year in a row. Cal Poly fans will be thrilled to see Kays depart after the season. In 2004, Kays had 116 yards receiving and scored the gamewinning touchdown with 14 seconds left of a 36-33 win at Cal Poly. It remains to be seen if Kays will torment the Mustangs again, but he should certainly be primed for a big season with quarterback Jon Grant back to lead a UC Davis offense that relies on the aerial attack." Rice retired before the 2005 season with NFL records in receptions (1,549), yards (22,895) and touchdown receptions (198) in his career and single-season marks in yards and touchdowns. He also holds NFL records for most seasons with at least 1,000 receiving yards (14), games with at least 100 receiving yards (76) and consecutive games with at least one reception (274). The regular season numbers are gaudy, but Rice's postseason heroics cemented his place among NFL legends. Rice ranks as the top wide receiver in postseason and Super Bowl history in receptions, yardage and touchdowns. He was the Super Bowl MVP in 1988, earned AP Offensive Player of the Year honors in 1987 and 1993, and was a member of the NFL All-Decade Team in both the 1980s and 1990s. And those three championship rings with the San Francisco 49ers are more significant than any individual accolades. Star players will come and go, but it would take a lot of personal and team success to supplant Rice's name from the regular season, postseason and Super Bowl record book. But while many of Rice's NFL marks figure to remain untouchable for a long time, some of his I-AA records are in serious jeopardy after more than 20 years at the top spot. New Hampshire's David Ball has a great chance to overtake at least a few of Rice's (Mississippi Valley State, 1981-84) significant I-AA records. The first one to go should be the touchdown mark, with Ball needing only six TD's to eclipse Rice's record of 50. Ball has caught a touchdown pass in 22 career games, and needs just five more outings with at least one score to break Rice's mark of 26. Ball had 24 touchdowns in 2005, which was three shy of Rice's single-season mark of 27, set in 1984. Rice's yardage records will be tougher to obtain, but Ball is well within reach. Rice holds the I-AA record with 4,693 career yards, and Ball comes into the 2006 campaign needing 1,153 yards to break that mark. With 17 100-yard games to his credit, Ball is well within striking distance of Rice's standard of 23. Ball notched 1,551 yards and nine 100-yard days in 2005, so a similar season would leave him with I-AA receiving yardage records. While Ball is on the verge of setting individual marks, two wide receivers at St. Francis (PA) are in position to end a great career together by landing side-by-side in the I-AA record books for receiving duos. Michael Caputo and Luke Palko combined to catch 177 passes in 2005, which was just six shy of the single-season mark set by Rice and Joe Thomas (1983-86) for the Delta Devils in 1984. But Caputo and Palko should etch their names on the career list for receiving duos. With 391 total receptions, the pair is just 30 away from breaking the I-AA record of 420, which was set by Darrell Colbert and Donald Narcisse of Texas Southern from 1983-86. Caputo and Palko also have 4,452 combined yards, and are very much in range of the mark of 5,806 held by Eastern Illinois' Roy Banks and Cal Pierce (1983-86). There are other strong receivers in I-AA football, with Illinois State's Laurent Robinson coming off a monster season and a trio of SWAC wide receivers looking to cap excellent careers. Maybe someone will even emerge with a historic single-season effort to truly make 2006 a year for the record books.
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