2016 Big Sky Conference Football All-Conference Teams and Special Awards Special Awards Gage Gubrud, Eastern Washington; Cooper Kupp, Eastern Washington Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year Cole Reyes, North Dakota Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year Chris Murray, Montana State Big Sky Freshman of the Year Andrew Vollert, Weber State Big Sky Newcomer of the Year All-Conference First Team Name School Year Position Hometown Cooper Kupp Eastern Washington Senior Wide Receiver Yakima, Wash. Shaq Hill Eastern Washington Senior Wide Receiver Stockton, Calif. Emmanuel Butler Northern Arizona Junior Wide Receiver Phoenix, Ariz. Michael Coe North Dakota Senior Offensive Tackle Carlsbad, Calif. Matt Fisher Cal Poly Senior Offensive Tackle Danville, Calif. J.P. Flynn Montana State Senior Offensive Guard Bettendorf, Iowa Cam Keizur Portland State Senior Offensive Guard West Linn, Ore. Joey Kuperman Cal Poly Junior Center San Diego, Calif. Andrew Vollert Weber State Junior Tight End San Mateo, Calif. Gage Gubrud Eastern Washington Sophomore Quarterback McMinnville, Ore. John Santiago North Dakota Sophomore Running Back St. Francis, Minn. Malik Brown Southern Utah Senior Running Back North Las Vegas, Nev. Joe Protheroe Cal Poly Junior Fullback Concord, Calif. Griffin Roehler Northern Arizona Freshman Placekicker Litchfield Park, Ariz. Hakeem Deggs Northern Colorado Junior Special Teams Player Plaquemine, La. John Santiago North Dakota Sophomore Return Specialist St. Francis, Minn. Robert Torgerson Southern Utah Junior Defensive Tackle Richfield, Utah Jay-Tee Tiuli Eastern Washington Junior Defensive Tackle Seattle, Wash. Samson Ebukam Eastern Washington Senior Defensive End Portland, Ore. Siupeli Anau Northern Arizona Senior Defensive End Phoenix, Ariz. Mike Needham Southern Utah Senior Outside Linebacker St. George, Utah Tre'von Johnson Weber State Senior Outside Linebacker Salt Lake City, Utah Chris Santini Cal Poly Senior Inside Linebacker San Jose, Calif. Miquiyah Zamora Eastern Washington Senior Inside Linebacker Pasco, Wash. Deion Harris North Dakota Junior Cornerback Hibbing, Minn. Xavier Coleman Portland State Senior Cornerback Portland, Ore. Cole Reyes North Dakota Junior Safety Schaumburg, Ill. Zach Bruce Eastern Washington Senior Safety Spokane, Wash. Tate Lewis Southern Utah Senior Punter Plain City, Utah All-Conference Second Team Kendrick Bourne Eastern Washington Senior Wide Receiver Portland, Ore. Mike Sharp Southern Utah Senior Wide Receiver St. George, Utah Keelan Doss UC Davis Sophomore Wide Receiver Alameda, Calif. Calvin Steyn Weber State Senior Offensive Tackle Rancho Santa Margerita, Calif. David Reese Montana Junior Offensive Tackle Happy Valley, Ore. Cameron Young Weber State Senior Offensive Guard Cove, Texas Tyler Shank Northern Arizona Junior Offensive Guard Chandler, Ariz. Spencer Blackburn Eastern Washington Sophomore Center Bellingham, Wash. Maximo Espitia Portland State Senior Tight End Salem, Ore. Dano Graves Cal Poly Senior Quarterback Folsom, Calif. Jordan Robinson Sacramento State Senior Running Back Chino Hills, Calif. Manusamoa Luuga UC Davis Senior Running Back Long Beach, Calif. Chad Newell Montana State Senior Fullback Billings, Mont. Reid Taubenheim North Dakota Junior Placekicker Farmington, Minn. Mitch Thompson Portland State Junior Special Teams Player Oregon City, Ore. Cooper Kupp Eastern Washington Senior Return Specialist Yakima, Wash. Inoke Raikadroka UC Davis Senior Defensive Tackle Inglewood, Calif. Augustino Elisaia Cal Poly Junior Defensive Tackle Union City, Calif. Caleb Kidder Montana Senior Defensive End Helena, Mont. Mikhail Dubose Northern Colorado Senior Defensive End Chicago, Ill. Mac Bignell Montana State Senior Outside Linebacker Drummond, Mont. Kyle Newsom Northern Colorado Senior Outside Linebacker Lynnwood, Wash. Dylan Bakker North Dakota Senior Inside Linebacker Amsterdam, Netherlands Mario Jenkins Idaho State Senior Inside Linebacker Nampa, Idaho Taron Johnson Weber State Junior Cornerback Sacramento, Calif. Joshua Thornton Southern Utah Senior Cornerback West Palm, Fla. Bryson McCabe Montana State Junior Safety Spirit Lake, Iowa Josh Burton Weber State Senior Safety Roseland, La. Jacob De Maio Weber State Junior Punter Danville, Calif. All-Conference Third Team KW Williams Idaho State Senior Wide Receiver Des Moines, Wash. Stephen Miller Northern Colorado Senior Wide Receiver Centennial, Colo. Elijah Marks Northern Arizona Junior Wide Receiver Goodyear, Ariz. Randin Crecelius Portland State Junior Offensive Tackle Lake Stevens, Wash. Jackson Thiebes Montana Senior Offensive Tackle Kalispell, Mont. Harry Whitson Cal Poly Sophomore Offensive Guard Redondo Beach, Calif. Demon Taylor North Dakota Sophomore Offensive Guard St. Louis, Mo. Blake Porter Northern Arizona Junior Center Newhall, Calif. Josh Cook Idaho State Senior Tight End Santa Ana, Calif. Jadrian Clark Weber State Senior Quarterback Lakeland, Fla. Brady Oliveira North Dakota Sophomore Running Back Winnipeg, Manitoba Kori Garcia Cal Poly Senior Running Back Los Angeles, Calif. Quinn Zamora Northern Colorado Senior Fullback Palisade, Colo. Jonathan Gonzales Portland State Senior Placekicker Apple Valley, Calif. Cory Thomson Weber State Senior Special Teams Player Mission Viejo, Calif. Cory Thomson Weber State Senior Return Specialist Mission Viejo, Calif. Tank Harris North Dakota Sophomore Defensive Tackle Chicago, Ill. Chuntony Johnson Northern Colorado Senior Defensive Tackle Valdosta, Ga. Noah Johnson North Dakota Senior Defensive End Murrieta, Calif. Ryan Johnson Montana Senior Defensive End Vancouver, Wash. Josh Buss Montana Sophomore Outside Linebacker Boise, Idaho Josh Letuligasenoa Cal Poly Senior Outside Linebacker Sacramento, Calif. Connor Strahm Montana Junior Inside Linebacker Eugene, Ore. Jake Thomas Northern Arizona Senior Inside Linebacker Mesa, Ariz. Thomas Singleton Northern Colorado Senior Cornerback Aurora, Colo. Nzuzi Webster Eastern Washington Junior Cornerback Antioch, Calif. Kyle Hannemann Southern Utah Junior Safety Alpine, Utah B.J. Nard Cal Poly Junior Safety Bakersfield, Calif. Sean Cheney Idaho State Sophomore Punter Jonesboro, Ga.



Honorable Mention

After a landmark season in #BigSkyFB, the conference announced its 2016 All-Conference football teams.With four teams preparing to represent the Big Sky in the postseason, the conference’s individual award winners reflected the teams at the top of the standings. Big Sky co-champions Eastern Washington and North Dakota led the league with 11 all-conference selections, followed by Weber State and Cal Poly with ten, each. It is of no coincidence those four programs will represent the Big Sky Conference in the FCS Playoffs.It’s also of no surprise to anyone, after a pair of record-setting seasons, that Eastern Washington’s Gage Gubrud and Cooper Kupp share the Big Sky’s Offensive Player of the Year award. Kupp caught 91 passes for 1,297 yards, to go along with 12 touchdowns. The senior also threw a pair of touchdowns. Kupp was a unanimous first-team selection at wide receiver, along with being a second-team selection at return specialist.Gubrud, only a sophomore, set the Big Sky Conference on fire, throwing for 4,071 yards, and 40 touchdowns, in the regular season. He led the Eagles to a Big Sky co-title, and a 10-1 record. Gubrud also rushed for 463 yards and four scores, proving to be yet another quarterback with mobility in the EWU quarterback lineage.North Dakota powered to a 9-2 record, playing one of the Big Sky’s stingiest forms of defense. Additionally, the Fighting Hawks were one of the top teams in the FCS at forcing turnovers, specifically interceptions.UND’s defense was celebrated, both as a team and individually, as safety Cole Reyes was named as the Big Sky Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. The junior made 58 tackles, five tackles-for-loss, and had three interceptions, along with forcing two fumbles. He also broke up eight passes, and had a safety.Winning a game in Missoula against Montana is always big for any Big Sky program, but there was no bigger moment for the Montana State Bobcats this season, than in earning a 24-17 win against their bitter in-state rivals. The man to lead them to that win? Freshman quarterback Chris Murray. Murray burst on the scene early in the season, showcasing a duel-threat ability that marked him as a player to watch for years to come in the Big Sky. Opponents were already watching him this season, naming him the Big Sky Freshman of the Year.Murray, a true freshman, rushed for 860 yards and 12 touchdowns, and rushed for two scores in MSU’s win at Montana. The quarterback also threw for 778 yards and six touchdowns.Weber State qualified for the FCS postseason for the first time since 2009, and several upperclassmen helped lead the Wildcats to a 7-4 record in the regular season. While several of those players were entrenched in Ogden, it was a newcomer who helped spark the Wildcats to a postseason berth against Chattanooga. For his efforts this past season, Weber State tight end Andrew Vollert was named Big Sky Newcomer of the Year.Vollert led the Wildcats in receiving yards, with 757 yards, for an average of 13.3 yards per catch. Vollert also caught six touchdown passes, on his way to first-team all-conference honors as a tight end. He is a junior at Weber State, after starting his career at San Jose State.The unanimous selections to the first-team include Kupp, Gubrud and Southern Utah punter Tate Lewis. Eastern Washington led all teams with seven players on the first-team.The Big Sky All-Conference team is selected by the Big Sky’s head football coaches. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players. The conference’s Coach of the Year award will be announced on Wednesday.Wide Receiver: Cameron Livingston, Weber State; Jerry Louie-McGee, Montana; Isiah Hennie, Sacramento StateOffensive Tackle: Iosua Opeta, Weber State; Marcus Piechowski, Northern Colorado; Brian Fineanganofo, Idaho State; Christian Schneider, UC Davis; Nick Ellison, Eastern Washington; Tristen Taylor, Eastern WashingtonOffensive Guard: Tyshon Mosley, Portland State; Devon Dietrich, Montana; Evan Ross, Southern Utah; Julian Bertero, UC DavisCenter: Pailake Aiono, Sacramento State; Austin Hendrickson, Northern ColoradoTight End: Steven Wroblewski, Southern UtahQuarterback: Alex Kuresa, Portland State; Brady Gustafson, Montana; Kyle Sloter, Northern ColoradoRunning Backs: Kyle Lewis, Cal Poly; Nate Tago, Portland State; Paris Penn, Portland State; Joe Logan, Northern ArizonaFullback: Cory Thomson, Weber StatePlacekicker: Casey Sublette, Cal Poly; Jamie Falloon, Northern ColoradoSpecial Teams Player: Alex Reed, North Dakota; Taylor Powell, Northern Arizona; Joey Michael, Montana StateReturn Specialist: Isiah Hennie, Sacramento State; William Morehand, Northern ArizonaDefensive Tackle: Savali Talaemotu, Portland State; McKay Murphy, Weber State; Sefesi Vaa’ivaka, Southern Utah; Zach Wright, Montana State; Myles Overton, Northern Colorado; Brandon Dranka, North Dakota; Zak Pettit, UC DavisDefensive End: Ben Sorenson, Sacramento State; Kelly Shepherd, Cal Poly; Taylor Pili, Southern Utah; Drew Greely, North DakotaOutside Linebacker: Brian Labat, North Dakota; Joe Martin, Idaho StateInside Linebacker: Landon Stice, Weber State; Junior Tufuga, Southern Utah; Nas Anesi, UC DavisCornerback: John Walker, Montana State; Torrey Hunt, North Dakota; Khalil Dorsey, Northern Arizona; Keleen Culberson, UC DavisSafeties: Justin Strong, Montana; Zach Jones, UC Davis; Mitch Fettig, Eastern WashingtonPunter: Colby Wadman, UC Davis; Marcus Kinsella, Portland State