Montana linebacker Dante Olson made it five-for-five on All-America week, capping the five-day postseason awards blitz with his second-straight first-team All-American selection from the American Football Coaches’ Association (AFCA), the organization announced Friday.
Olson has now been named a first-team All-American by all five major FCS publications and organizations that provide All-America teams: HERO Sports, the Associated Press, the FCS Athletic Directors Association, STATS, and the AFCA to become a “consensus All-American.”
With 14 stops against Weber State in the FCS quarterfinal, Olson broke the Big Sky Conference record for single-season tackles with 179, which also broke the school record he set his junior season. His total of 179 is currently the most tackles of any player in all levels of college football*.
In just two seasons as a starter, Olson also became Montana’s all-time tackling leader with 397 career stops, breaking Grizzly Sports Hall of Famer Vince Huntsberger’s 2001 career total of 393.
On January 10, Olson will travel to Frisco, Texas, to find out if he is to become Montana’s third winner of the Buck Buchanan Award, presented annually to the FCS Defensive Player of the Year at the STATS FCS Awards Banquet.
Prior to that, Olson will also travel to New Orleans on New Year’s Eve for the Sugar Bowl as a member of the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. As a member of the prestigious team, Olson will spend a day in the Big Easy working with former Good Works team captain Tim Tebow on a community service project. He and the 11 other members will also ride on a float in the Sugar Bowl parade, and be honored on the field at halftime of the Sugar Bowl game; this year played between Georgia and Baylor.
Following the STATS Awards Banquet, Olson will travel to Tampa, Fla., to play in front of NFL scouts in the East-West Shrine Bowl, one of the nation’s premier All-Star games.
The AFCA has selected an All-America team since 1945 and currently selects teams in all five of its divisions. What makes these teams so special is that they are the only ones chosen exclusively by the men who know the players the best — the coaches themselves.
