Trio honored on first-team

RELATED CLICKS:
Big Sky Release

OGDEN, Utah – For the first time since joining the Big Sky Conference in 2006, the Northern Colorado football team had three student-athletes named to the All-Conference First Team, the league announced Tuesday.

Sophomore wide receiver Jace Davis, senior linebacker John Eddy and senior cornerback Korey Askew all earned First-Team All-Conference honors, while sophomore Dominic Gunn was named the league’s Second-Team return specialist.

Davis earned first-team offensive honors after catching 53 passes for 992 yards and seven touchdowns. His 992 yards is the seventh-best total in Northern Colorado history, while his 53 receptions rank 12th. Davis recorded three 100+ yard receiving games on the season and also completed a 30-yard pass for a touchdown against now top-ranked Eastern Washington. Davis becomes the second player in NC history to be named to the offensive first-team, joining Ryan Chesla in 2007 and 2008.

Eddy was honored on the first-team for the first time after leading the team with 90 tackles. He also had four sacks, 8.5 tackles for loss, eight quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, two pass break ups, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick in his final campaign. Eddy was named to the second-team a season ago and was an honorable mention selection in 2007 as a sophomore at defensive end.

Askew also was named to the All-Conference First Team for the first time in his career. In his final season with the Bears, the cornerback tallied 58 tackles. He also recorded two tackles for loss, three interceptions for 18 yards and a touchdown, two fumble recoveries for 28 yards and one touchdown, one pass break up and one quarterback hurry.

After nearly breaking the school record for kickoff return yards in a season, Gunn was honored by the league’s coaches on the second team. Gunn had 28 returns for 654 yards (23.4 per return), missing the record by just nine yards. He also had 21 punt returns for 248 yards (11.8 per return) and 10 receptions for 111 yards giving him 1,023 all purpose yards on the year, the best mark on the team.

The Bears also had four players on offense and four on defense earn honorable mention honors. Junior wide receiver Patrick Walker, sophomore offensive tackle Lee Barbiasz, senior center Tim McGraw and junior fullback Andrew Downing were named on the offensive side of the ball, while junior defensive end Nick Hernon, sophomore defensive end VJ Holmes, senior linebacker Matt King and senior safety Max Hewitt all earned defensive honors.

Northern Colorado finished in seventh place in the Big Sky Conference standings after posting a record of 3-8. The Bears won two Big Sky games for the first time since joining the league in 2006.