Colorado Mines, Calhoun Headline 2009 NFF All-Colorado Team

Colorado Springs, Colo. -- December 30, 3009 -- Colorado Mines' Adam Saur and Marc Schiechl were named the National Football Foundation-Colorado Chapter (NFFCC) Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, while Adams State's freshman David Van Voris was voted the Special Teams Player of the Year.  United States Air Force Academy head coach Troy Calhoun has been selected the NFFCC Coach of the Year.

NFFCC board members and the sports information directors from the 10 institutions in Colorado voted on the 2009 NFF All-Colorado team.  The 10 Colorado institutions consist of Adams State, Air Force Academy, Colorado, Colorado Mines, Colorado State, Colorado State-Pueblo, Fort Lewis, Mesa State, Northern Colorado, and Western State.

University of Colorado led all teams with 12 selections to the All-Colorado team, followed by Colorado Mines with 11 and Air Force with 10.  At least one member from eight of the 10 schools were represented on this year's team.

Saur, who started every game this year for the 8-3 Orediggers, was named to the Daktronics Super Region #3 First Team Offense, leading all wide receivers in voting.  He was also a First Team All-RMAC selection, a pre-season All-RMAC selection, and a d2football.com pre-season First Team All-RMAC selection. The 6-foot-3 wide receiver earned the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week and NFF-Colorado Chapter Player of the Week honors on Sept. 21.  He was also named the RMAC Male Athlete of the Month for September 2009.  The San Antonio, Texas native tied a CSM single-game record with 14 receptions and became CSM's career leader in touchdown receptions (32).  He established a new CSM individual single-season program record for touchdown receptions (15), and he led the RMAC in receiving yards (1,219), touchdowns (15), and receiving yards per game (110.8).  He is ranked second in the RMAC in receptions (84), third in receptions per game (7.6), scoring (8.2 points per game) and points scored (90), and he is eighth in all-purpose yardage (110.8 ypg). 

A junior defensive lineman from Lakewood, Colo., Schiechl started all 11 games and was named to the AFCA NCAA Division II Coaches' All-America Team, the Daktronics Super Region #3 First Team Defense, the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, and he was a First Team All-RMAC selection.  He was selected as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 28.  He finished third in the RMAC in both fumble recoveries (tied - two) and tackles for a loss (tied - 13.0), and he finished fourth in the RMAC in sacks (7.0) and 40th in tackles per game (5.3).  Schiechl is CSM's all-time career leader in sacks (34.0).  He was named to several pre-season teams including the All-RMAC team, the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, d2football.com First Team All-RMAC selection, First Team All-American honors from d2football.com and Lindy's, and All-American recognition from The Sporting News and Consensus Draft Services (CDS). 

A Second Team All-RMAC selection, Van Voris was the NCAA-II statistical champion in field goals per game (1.89).  He made 17 of 21 (81.0 percent) throughout the year, playing in nine of 11 games.  Van Voris broke a 30-year old school-record for field goals in a season. He led the RMAC in field goal percentage and he made 15 of 16 field goals, including a string of 12 straight from Sept. 19 through Oct. 25.  His only miss in that stretch came by a block after he had made a field goal, wiped out by a foul.  He was perfect on 20 extra point attempts (one of three kickers in the RMAC to be perfect).  Van Voris led the team with 71 points, the most of any ASC kicker in the program's NCAA Division II era.  He finished sixth in the RMAC in scoring, fourth in kicking, and he was a solid 15 of 17 in field goals of less than 40 yards.  The freshman from Elizabeth, Colo. was 2-for-4 in longer attempts.  He averaged 66.0 yards on 41 kickoff attempts, and he had 17 touchbacks, which is the fourth most in the country, and he helped lead the Grizzlies to the RMAC lead in kickoff coverage (44.3 net average).  A two-time RMAC Player of the Week, Van Voris was also a four-time Football Coaching Staff Special Teams Player of the Week.  He was recognized with the Fred Mitchell Award for the month of October (only RMAC kicker to do so).  Van Voris had four 10-plus point games.

Calhoun became the first coach in school history to lead Air Force to seven or more regular season wins three consecutive years.  He has made Air Force bowl eligible for the third straight year which is the first time since 1990-92.  He led the USAFA to the closest game of the year for a BCS qualifier for second straight year (Utah in 2008, TCU in 2009).  Calhoun and the Falcons (7-5, 5-3 MWC) will play Dec. 31 against Houston in Fort Worth, Texas in the Armed Forces Bowl.

First Team
QB      David Pesek, Colorado Mines (Senior, Quarterback, 6-3, 210, Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe)
RB      Jesse Lewis, CSU-Pueblo (Sophomore, Running Back, 5-6, 173, Loveland, Colo./Loveland)
RB      Rodney Stewart, Colorado (Sophomore, Running Back, 5-6, 175, Westerville, Ohio/Brookhaven)
WR     Scotty McKnight*, Colorado (Junior, Wide Receiver, 5-11, 185, Coto de Caza, Calif./Tesoro)
WR     Adam Saur, Colorado Mines (Senior, Wide Receiver, 6-3, 200/San Antonio, Texas/Clark)
TE       Riar Geer*, Colorado (Senior, Tight End, 6-4, 250, Grand Junction, Colo./Fruita-Monument)
OL      Nick Charles, Air Force (Senior, Offensive Line, 6-4, 285, San Antonio, Texas/Taft)
OL      Peter Lusk, Air Force (Senior, Offensive Line, 6-3, 250, Raleigh, NC/Enloe)
OL      Zach Meints, Colorado Mines (Senior, Offensive Line, 6-2, 275/Cortland, Neb./Norris)
OL      Ryan Miller, Colorado (Sophomore, Offensive Line, 6-8, 320, Littleton, Colo./Columbine)
OL      Nate Solder, Colorado (Junior, Offensive Tackle, 6-9, 305, Buena Vista, Colo./Buena Vista)
ST       Erik Soderberg, Air Force (Sophomore, Place Kicker, 6-1, 190, Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie)
ST       David Van Voris, Adams State (Freshman, Kicker, 6-2, 165, Elizabeth, Colo./Elizabeth)
LB       Bennett Newton, Mesa State (Senior, Linebacker, 6-2, 215, Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County)
LB       Jeff Smart, Colorado (Senior, Inside Linebacker, 6-0, 225, Boulder, Colo./Boulder)
LB       Chase Vaughn, CSU-Pueblo (Senior, Outside Linebacker, 6-2, 242, Aurora, Colo./Adams State/Smoky Hill)
LB       Oscar Villa, Adams State (Senior, Middle Linebacker, 6-1, 225, Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic)
DB      Cha'pelle Brown*, Colorado (Senior, Cornerback, 5-7, 175, LaPuente, Calif./Los Altos)
DB      Kyle Goracke, Colorado Mines (Junior, Defensive Back, 6-3, 200, Tecumseh, Neb./Tecumseh Public)
DB      Reggie Rembert, Air Force (Junior, defensive Back, 5-8, 185, Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound)
DB      Anthony Wright, Jr., Air Force (Sophomore, Defensive Back, 5-10, 190, Cleveland, Ohio/Maple Heights)
DL      Ben Garland*, Air Force (Senior, Nose Guard, 6-5, 275, Grand Junction, Colo./Central)
DL      Will Pericak, Colorado (R-Freshman, Defensive Tackle, 6-4, 280, Boulder, Colo./Boulder)
DL      Marc Schiechl*, Colorado Mines (Junior, Defensive Line, 6-3, 255/Lakewood, Colo./Bear Creek) 

Second Team
QB      Trevor Eggleston, Adams State (Freshman, Quarterback, 6-2, 200, Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic)
RB      Jamaal Johnson, CSU-Pueblo (Sophomore, Running Back, 5-9, 180, Fountain, Colo./Colorado State/Fountain-Fort             Carson)
RB      Jared Tew, Air Force (Junior, Fullback, 6-0, 210, Park City, Utah/Park City)
WR     Shaun Suttorp, Western State (Junior, Wide Receiver, 6-0, 180, Aurora, Colo./Gateway)
WR     Alex Thompson, Northern Colorado (Senior, Wide Receiver, 6-0, 180, La Verne, Calif./Chaffey College/Damien)
TE       Seth Damron*, Mesa State (Senior, Tight End, 6-1, 220, Bakersfield, Calif./Bakersfield College)
OL      Ryan Gonzales, Air Force (Senior, Offensive Line, 6-3, 255, Schertz, Texas/Clemens)
OL      Randy Greenbaum, Adams State (Senior, Left Tackle, 6-4, 270, Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley )
OL      J.T. Haddan, CSU-Pueblo (R-Freshman, Center, 6-2, 265, Craig, Colo./Moffat County)
OL      Brandon Joy, Colorado Mines (Senior, Offensive Line, 6-1, 270, Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County)
OL      Evan Woody, Colorado Mines (Junior, Offensive Line, 6-4, 280, Austin, Texas/McCallum)
ST       Brandon Geyer, Air Force (Senior, Punter, 6-4, 200, Bay City, Mich./John Gleen)
ST       Travis Sandersfeld, Colorado (Sophomore, Safety/ST Coverage, 6-0, 205, Limon, Colo.)
LB       John Eddy, Northern Colorado (Junior, Linebacker, 6-3, 255, Greeley, Colo./Greeley Central)
LB       John Falgout, Air Force (Senior, Inside Linebacker, 6-0, 225, Beaumont, Texas/West Brook)
LB       Nick Haniszewski, Colorado Mines (Senior, Linebacker, 6-2, 225, Honey Creek, Iowa/Roncalli Catholic)
LB       Alex Vigil, Colorado Mines (Sophomore, Linebacker, 6-2, 215, Arvada, Colo./Faith Christian)
DB      Korey Askew, Northern Colorado (Junior, Cornerback, 5-9, 170, Denver, Colo./Thomas Jefferson)
DB      Jalil Brown, Colorado (Junior, Cornerback, 6-1, 205, Phoenix, Ariz./South Mountain)
DB      Jimmy Smith, Colorado (Junior, Cornerback, 6-2, 205, Colton, Calif.)
DB      Ben Tiller, Colorado Mines (Senior, Defesnive Back, 6-0, 190, Fort Worth, Texas/Fossil Ridge)
DL      Marquez Herrod, Colorado (Junior, Defensive End, 6-2, 280, Escondido, Calif./San Pasqual)
DL      Blaine Sumner, Colorado Mines (Junior, Defensive Line, 6-2, 315, Conifer, Colo./Conifer)DL      Josh Teeples, Adams State (Senior, Nose Guard, 6-1, 285, Poway, Calif./Poway)

Offensive Player of the Year
Adam Saur, Colorado Mines 

Defensive Player of the Year
Marc Schiechl, Colorado Mines 

Special Teams Player of the Year
David Van Voris, Adams State 

Coach of the Year
Troy Calhoun, Air Force