Dec. 12, 2005

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Six players from the Great West Football Conference were named to The Sports Network's Division I-AA All-America team released Dec. 12 highlighted by first team defense selections Cal Poly defensive lineman Chris Gocong and Northern Colorado safety Reed Doughty. Cal Poly linebacker Kyle Shotwell was named to the second team, while Cal Poly running back James Noble, South Dakota State placekicker Parker Douglass, and UC Davis wide receiver Tony Kays was named to the third team.

Doughty, a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award (given to I-AA's top defensive player), capped a stellar career by leading all of I-AA in tackles in 2005, registering 159 stops (14.45/game) during the season, including a season-high 19 against 2005 NCAA Playoff participant Cal Poly. Doughty had double-digit tackles in 10 of 11 games during the year and ranked in the top-10 in the Great West Football Conference in forced fumbles (3), fumbles recovered (3), passes defended (8) and interceptions (4). He capped his career by ranking third in school history in career tackles (466), fifth in career interceptions (14) and eighth in career fumbles recoveries (6).

The epitome of a student-athlete, Doughty compiled a perfect 4.0 gpa, was the top vote-getter on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American team in 2005 as well as one of 16 finalists for the 2005 Draddy Trophy (a.k.a. The Academic Heisman), for which he won an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship. He completed his degree in sports and exercise science and graduated on Dec. 10.

Doughty will participate in the All-American Classic All-Star Game to be held Jan. 14 in Las Vegas and then continuing training for the NFL Scouting Combine, to be held Feb. 22-28 in Indianapolis.

Gocong, a finalist for the 2005 Buck Buchanan Award, was named to the first team on defense for the second straight year while junior linebacker Kyle Shotwell earned a spot on the second unit. Redshirt freshman running back James Noble landed on the third team on offense.

Gocong was first in the nation in sacks per game (1.81), second in tackles for lost yardage (2.35 per game) and 23rd in forced fumbles (.31). He finished the 2005 season with 98 total tackles (46 solo), including a school-record 23.5 sacks and 31.0 tackles for lost yardage, leading the Mustangs to a 9-4 record, a second straight Great West Football Conference championship and the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

The 6-3, 265-pound senior was named Great West Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year two weeks ago, and has 42.0 career sacks, 1.5 sacks shy of the career mark set by Tom Carey (1985-88). He recovered a Montana State fumble in the end zone last September for his first career Mustang touchdown.

He finished the 2004 regular season as the nation's sacks leader in Division I-AA with 17.5 (1.59 sacks per contest) and was No. 2 in tackles for lost yardage with 21.5 (1.95 a game). Gocong recorded 71 total tackles as a junior and also notched one interception (Humboldt State), one punt block (North Dakota State) and two forced fumbles.

Shotwell raised the school record for total tackles in a season to 158, breaking the old mark of 135 established by Jordan Beck in 2004. Shotwell finished second in the Great West and fourth in the nation in total tackles per game and also finished fifth in the nation in solo tackles with 6.46 per contest.

He has four career interceptions and has played in all 35 games in his Mustang career, including starts in his last 22 games. Shotwell¹s career high for tackles in a game is 20 set in the quarterfinal-round playoff loss to Texas State on Dec. 3.

Noble broke the school record for yards rushing in a single season with 1,578 yards in 11 games and also established new marks for rushing touchdowns in a game (five) and for a season (16). Noble finished with eight 100-yard games, including a pair of 200-yard performances -- 221 yards on just 19 carries against Eastern Washington and 248 yards on 27 carries against Idaho State.

Noble finished fourth in the nation in rushing, averaging 143.45 yards a contest. He was the 12th Mustang ever to crack the 1,000-yard mark for a season and the 15th to rush for 200 yards in a game, doing it twice. He averaged 7.1 yards a carry this season.

Douglass, a sophomore from Columbus, Neb., was selected to the third team. He was Great West Football Conference Special Teams Player of the Year after earning GWFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors three times.

Douglass finished the season with 99 points, an SDSU record for points scored by a kicker in a single season. He finished the season 19-for-26 on field goal attempts, kicking three field goals in a game three times, and was 42-of-43 on extra point attempts. That gives him 164 career points kicking, and he's 71-of-72 on extra point attempts, making the first 52 of his career.

Douglass was not listed among the national leaders for field goals, because SDSU is a provisional member during its reclassification to Division I, but his 1.9 field goals per game average would have led I-AA. Steve Morgan from Brown led the nation at 1.8 per game. (While SDSU played 11 games, Douglass did not appear in the Montana game, which SDSU lost 7-0).

Kays, who finished his junior season with a school-record 93 catches, also finished with 1,213 receiving yards and three touchdowns while helping UC Davis posted its 36th conescutive winning season. Kays set school records for regular-season and overall records receptions. His receiving yards are also a school-record for a regular-season.

Kays' season featured him posting seven games with at least 115 receiving yards and five with at least 10 receptions.

Among Kays' many accomplishments this season were a career-best 212 receiving yards in the Aggies' 20-13 win against Cal Poly on Oct. 29 and a school-record 15 receptions against Portland State on Sept. 10. Kays, a team captain, was earlier also named to the All-Great West Football Conference first team, was a two-time conference player of the week and had more receptions than any other player in the NCAA Div. I-AA stat rankings.

The Southern Conference led all leagues with 14 players on The Sports Network 2005 All-America team. Appalachian State led all teams with five players on the All-America squad and faces Northern Iowa for the I-AA national championship Friday night in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Voting was conducted among I-AA sports information directors and selected media, with nearly 100 ballots being cast.

Eastern Washington quarterback Erik Meyer, one of three Walter Payton Award finalists invited to this Thursday's Awards presentation, earned first-team honors at quarterback. Meyer threw for 3,616 yards, 26 touchdowns and five interceptions in the regular season for the Eagles.

Joining Meyer in the first-team backfield are Brown running back Nick Hartigan and Portland State running back Joe Rubin. Hartigan, who is also a Payton finalist, ran for 1,727 yards and 20 touchdowns to lead Brown to its first-ever outright Ivy League title. Rubin had 1,702 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns for the Vikings.

Eric Kimble (Eastern Washington) and Laurent Robinson (Illinois State) earned first-team honors at wide receiver. Kimble caught 78 passes for 1,264 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Eagles, while Robinson finished his junior season with 86 receptions, 1,465 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Four Buck Buchanan Award finalists made the first-team defensive line. Gocong is joined by Jeff Charleston (Idaho State), Brent Hawkins (Illinois State) and Marques Murrell (Appalachian State).

Furman, Grambling State, Hampton and Illinois State each placed four players on the team, while Payton Award finalist Ricky Santos led a trio of players from New Hampshire. In all, 78 players from 15 different conferences were selected to either the first, second or third team. The Southern Conference was followed by the Atlantic 10 with 10 selections and the Big Sky with nine honorees.