Dec. 2, 2005

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UC Davis quarterback Jon Grant and Cal Poly running back James Noble and defensive end Chris Gocong earned top honors as the 2005 All-Great West Football Conference honors were announced Friday.

Selected by the conference¹s six head coaches, Grant and Noble shared Great West Offensive Player of the Year honors while Gocong earned the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Grant, a junior, completed 259 of 450 passes (57.6 percent) for 2,873 yards and 14 touchdowns, all conference highs, in leading UC Davis to a share of the 2005 Great West title. Grant also led the conference in total offense (273.3 yards per game).

Noble, a redshirt freshman, has rushed for 1,493 yards and 15 touchdowns in 10 games, averaging 7.2 yards per carry and 149.3 yards per game, fourth best in Division I-AA. Noble has cracked the 100-yard mark eight times, including a pair of 200-yard performances.

Gocong has recorded 22.0 sacks, best in Division I-AA, and his 28.0 tackles for lost yardage is No. 2. The 2004 Buck Buchanan Award runner-up has 87 tackles this season, including 44 solo stops, and 14 quarterback hurries, including seven against Idaho State.

Other specialty awards went to South Dakota State sophomore placekicker Parker Douglass as Special Teams Player of the Year, Noble as Freshman of the Year and Rich Ellerson of Cal Poly as Coach of the Year for the second straight season.

Douglass led the conference in scoring with 9.9 points per game, making 42 of 43 extra-point kicks and 19 of 26 field goals. Ellerson guided the Mustangs to their third straight winning season, second Great West title and their first-ever Division I-AA playoff berth. Cal Poly has won 26 of its last 35 games under Ellerson, who has a 34-22 mark in five seasons with the Mustangs.

The first team includes 14 players from Cal Poly, eight from UC Davis, four from North Dakota State, three from Northern Colorado and two from South Dakota State. The first team also includes 10 seniors, 10 juniors, four sophomores and four freshmen.

Six players are repeat first-team selections. They are Grant, Gocong, offensive lineman Tim Popowski of North Dakota State, running back Kyle Steffes of North Dakota State, running back Andre Wilson of Northern Colorado and safety Reed Doughty of Northern Colorado.

Four other first-team selections from a year ago are on the second unit in 2005, including Southern Utah wide receiver Jerome Eason, South Dakota State running back Anthony Watson, UC Davis tight end Daniel Fells and North Dakota State defensive back Craig Dahl.

Three players who were second-team all-conference a year ago and moved up to the first team this fall are Cal Poly offensive lineman Beau Finato, Mustang wide receiver Jonah Russell and UC Davis inside linebacker Dan Elbanna.

And four other players are repeat second-team selections -- South Dakota State offensive linemen Paul Keizer and Taylor Murray, Southern Utah outside linebacker Steve Smith and South Dakota State defensive back Hank McCall.