Dec. 29, 2010

Five Great West Conference football players have been named to the Phil Steele 2010 Football Championship Subdivision Postseason All-America Team. Southern Utah's Tysson Poots, South Dakota's Cole Zwiefelhofer and Tom Compton, UC Davis' Dean Rogers and Cal Poly's Will Mitchell received the honor.

Poots, a graduate student from Henderson, Nev., earned his fifth All-America first-team honor (AFCA, AP, Walter Camp, The Sports Network/Fathead.com) after catching 85 passes for 1,230 yards and 11 touchdowns, leading Southern Utah to the GWC championship with a 4-0 record and a 6-5 overall mark. He holds every single-season and career receiving record at Southern Utah and finished his career ranked among the NCAA's career leaders as well. The receptions tied his own school single-season record while the yards rank second at SUU, six short of his own record set in 2008. The touchdown receptions rank third in school history, behind his record 15 last year and his own 14 in 2008.

Named the Great West Conference Offensive Player of the Year by both the coaches and the media, Poots finished the season ranked fourth in the nation in receptions and yards per game. He is a three-time All-GWC selection and has ranked in the top four in the country in each of the last three years in those categories.

Poots finished his career with 285 receptions for 3,960 yards and 43 touchdowns. In NCAA FCS history his 99.0 career receiving yards per game rank sixth, his 285 receptions rank eighth, the 43 career TDs rank ninth and his 3,960 receiving yards rank 10th. He is also the active NCAA leader in receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and receiving yards per game.

Zwiefelhofer, the GWC Special Teams Player of the Year, was named to the second team after averaging 43.2 yards per punt, ranking sixth in the nation after the regular season, with 18 kicks inside the opponents' 20-yard line and a long of 60 yards. The sophomore was named GWC Player of the Week four times during the season, the most of any player in the category.

Rogers was named to the fourth team for this third All-America honor of the season (AFCA, AP) The senior from Visalia, Calif., is a three-time All-Great West selection and caught 30 passes for 404 yards and three touchdowns this season, helping UC Davis to a 6-5 overall record and a second-place 3-1 mark in the Great West. The Aggie team captain caught at least one pass in 10 games including a season-high five against Southern Utah on Oct. 30, and finished second among all UC Davis receivers for catches, yards and touchdown.

Mitchell was named to the fourth team after starting all 11 of Cal Poly's games this year as a senior. He was presented an award as the Mustangs' most inspirational player earlier this month and was a first-team All-Great West Conference selection this year and a second-team choice in 2009. He was part of an offensive line which helped Cal Poly to a No. 4 national ranking in rushing offense (252.91 yards per game) and No. 19 in sacks allowed (1.09) this fall.

Compton was also named to the fourth team.  The junior from Rosemount, Minn., was an anchor on USD’s offensive line at left tackle.  He started all 11 games en route to claiming first-team All-GWC and helping the Coyotes average over 150 rushing yards, 200 passing yards and 23 points per game. He was named USD’s Most Valuable Lineman after the season.

Phil Steele's College Football Preview is one of the nation's most informative preseason football magazines. His Web site, PhilSteele.com, is also home to the FCS Regional Magazine and features weekly previews, preseason and postseason all-conference and all-American teams, power ratings and a power poll wish links to FCS schools and message boards.