EWU & UND PRESS RELEASES
His amazing collegiate career may be over, but there is no shortage of respect from the American Football Coaches Association for record-breaking Eastern Washington University wide receiver Cooper Kupp.
Kupp became that organization’s first-ever four-time All-American at the NCAA Championship Subdivision level when the announcement was made early Monday morning. Kupp and senior defensive end Samson Ebukam earned first team accolades, and sophomore quarterback Gage Gubrud was selected to the second team.
Kupp also received All-America honors from the AFCA in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and is only the second player overall at any classification to earn that honor four years. The only other player was at the NCAA Division II level when Texas A&M-Kingsville running back Johnny Bailey was honored from 1986-89. Only four other players have earned FCS All-America honors three times from the AFCA since 1979 when FCS (then I-AA) was for formed and All-America teams were first awarded by the organization.
UND junior Deion Harris takes an interception back for a touchdown in his team’s 47-44 2OT win over USD last week/ by Tyler Ingham, UND athletics
Eastern Washington defensive end Samson Ebukam joined Kupp on the AFCA’s first team. EWU sophomore quarterback Gage Gubrud, the co Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year with Kupp, earned second-team AFCA honors.
North Dakota landed a trio of players on the FCS All-America team, and the Eagles and Fighting Hawks are now just two of the six schools to have more than a pair of players honored since 1979. This is the ninth-straight year (since 2008) Eastern has had a player honored by the AFCA.
UND junior defensive backs Deion Harris and Cole Reyes plus offensive tackle Michael Coe also earned AFCA honors. The trio of Fighting Hawks all landed on the American Football Coaches Association All-America second team announced by the association’s members.
This is the first All-America honor for Coe, who gives UND back-to-back offensive lineman named to the AFCA team after Sean Meehan earned first team accolades from the association in 2015. Coe transferred from Western New Mexico for his final collegiate season and started all 11 games with four of those coming at center, seven at right tackle and one at left tackle.
Reyes (first team) and Harris (second team) were named to the Associated Press FCS All-America team last week. All three players were named to the All-Big Sky first team and Reyes was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. Harris led the Big Sky with five interceptions and returned three of those for touchdowns.
The Fighting Hawks finished the season with a 9-3 overall record and shared the Big Sky Championship with EWU by going a perfect 8-0 in league play. The Eagles also went 8-0 in league play and 12-2 overall, losing in the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs last weekend.
The AFCA has selected an All-America team since 1945 and currently selects teams in all five of its divisions. Beginning this year, the AFCA has started selecting a first and second team. 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.
EWU quarterback Gage Gubrud (8) looks to wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10)
Kupp’s awards come on the heels of a heartbreaking 40-38 loss to Youngstown State in the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs in which the careers of Kupp, Ebukam and 10 other Eagle seniors came to an end. The season ended for Gubrud with a FCS record for single season passing yards of 5,160 yards, breaking former Old Dominion quarterback Taylor Heinicke’s record. EWU finished with seven Big Sky Conference records and nine school records in 2016.
Eastern now has four All-Americans from its 2016 squad. Previously, Kupp earned first team All-America honors for the fourth straight year from Associated Press, and was also honored on the first team by College Sports Madness. Gubrud was a second team selection by both CSM and AP. Ebukam was a second team All-American by AP, and senior wide receiver Shaq Hill was on the third team by College Sports Madness.
Gubrud and Kupp combined for a record-breaking season for the Eagles. In all, Gubrud broke three FCS records, seven Big Sky marks and 15 school records. Kupp broke one all-division collegiate record, 15 FCS records, 11 Big Sky marks and 26 EWU records during his illustrious career. That duo finished in the top three in the voting for the Walter Payton Award presented this year by STATS, and the winner will be presented on Jan. 6, 2017 in Frisco, Texas the day before the FCS national championship game between YSU and James Madison.
Kupp led FCS in receiving yards per game (130.8), was second in receptions per game (9.0), and tied Hill for the FCS lead in receiving touchdowns (17). Kupp had a Big Sky record 117 catches (sixth in FCS history) for 1,700 yards (fourth in FCS history) in just 13 games played this season, already ranking first and second, respectively, in school history.
His all-division record of 6,464 career receiving yards was set after a pair of early catches in the first quarter against Richmond on Dec. 10. He surpassed the NAIA record of 6,177 by Chris George of Glenville State from 1991-94 after surpassing NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III records earlier this season. His yardage, 428 receptions, 73 touchdown catches, 124.3 average yards per game, 31 games with at least 100 receiving yards and 1.40 average TDs per game were all Division I records, FBS or FCS.
Eastern Washington sophomore quarterback Gage Gubrud/EWU athletics
Gubrud is a 2014 graduate of McMinnville (Ore.) High School and passed for 5,160 yards, 48 touchdowns and a .677 completion percentage, and also rushed for a team-leading and EWU quarterback record 606 yards (4.5 per carry) and five more scores. He finished as the FCS leader in total offense at 411.9 per game, passing yards (5,160) and passing yards per game (368.6), and was second in points responsible per game (22.9), total points responsible for (320) and passing touchdowns (48). He was also third in completion percentage (.677) and third in passing efficiency (166.6).
Besides his FCS record for passing yards, his 11 games with at least 300 yards passing and 12 with at least 300 yards of total offense are also FCS records. Gubrud broke EWU and Big Sky Conference single season records set by Vernon Adams Jr. in 2013 for passing yards, as well as for total yards of offense, with Gubrud finishing with a total of 5,766. His average of 411.9 yards of offense per game was also a league and school record.
Gubrud has just 13 career starts (11-2 record), but he already owns six of the top eight single game total offense performances in school history (1-2-3-5-6-8) and five of the top 14 passing performances (1-3-6-13-14). In addition, he had an impressive string of 222 passes without an interception, going four full games from Sept. 24 to Oct. 22 without a pick. He had a school-record 551 yards of total offense in the first start of his career, a 45-42 season-opening victory over Washington State of the Pac-12 Conference.
Samson Ebukam
Ebukam had a team-high 9.5 sacks this season to go along with totals of 71 tackles, 14.5 total tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, eight quarterback hurries, two passes broken up and an interception. He is a 2013 graduate of David Douglas High School in Portland, Ore.
He has 24 sacks in his career to rank sixth in school history, and 188 total tackles total in 53 games (38 as a starter). One of six Eagle co-captains for the 2016 season, he received second-team All-Big Sky honors in both 2014 and 2015, and first team accolades in 2016. He was a second team Freshman All-America selection in 2013.
He had a monster game versus Richmond in the FCS Playoffs quarterfinals in which he had eight tackles, a pair of sacks, two other tackles for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception he returned seven yards. He helped the Eagles record their first shutout in 102 games and allowed their fewest yards (205) in 28 outings. He also had a pair of sacks in EWU’s season opener against Washington State and two to end the regular season versus Portland State.
Press release courtesy of EWU and UND athletics. All Rights Reserved.
