The ceremonial awards season continues for Eastern Washington University wide receiver Cooper Kupp and a few of his teammates.
 
Kupp, fresh off winning his third NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Player of the Year honor, was selected Wednesday (Jan. 13) as the winner of the College Football Performance Awards FCS Wide Receiver Award he also won as a freshman in 2013.
 
In addition, Kupp notched his seventh first team All-America honor when he was picked this week for the College Sporting News "Fabulous Fifty" team for a third-straight season. He was joined as a first team choice by senior offensive tackle Clay DeBord, while senior offensive guard Aaron Neary earned honorable mention accolades.
 
Hoping to continue their careers in the professional ranks, DeBord and Neary will play in the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) Collegiate Bowl. The all-star game will be played on Jan. 23 in Carson, Calif., at the StubHub Center on the campus of California State University Dominguez Hills. It will be televised live on ESPN2, beginning at 3 p.m. Pacific time.
 
Kupp won the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Offensive Player of the Year honor Friday Jan. 8 in Frisco, Texas, when his name was read among three finalists at the inaugural STATS FCS Awards Banquet and Presentations. Two days earlier, Kupp was honored as the Offensive Player of the Year by the FCS Athletic Director's Association.
 
Previously, Kupp was selected as the Walter Payton Award winner for 2015 as selected by Mickey Charles LLC of www.FCSAwards.com. The awards program for the NCAA Football Championship was founded by Charles and The Sports Network, and is now in its 29th year. But The Sports Network ceased operation in summer of 2015, and the Walter Payton Award and other awards are now independently presented by Mickey Charles LLC.
 
Kupp's name is added to an illustrious list of Player of the Year recipients from Eastern, including four previous recipients of FCS Football's highest honors. Bo Levi Mitchell won the Payton Award in 2011 and Erik Meyer won in 2005. Greg Peach (2008) and J.C. Sherritt (2010) have previously won the Buck Buchanan Award presented to the top defensive player in FCS. A total of eight players from the Big Sky Conference have now won the Payton Award.
 
 

More About All-Americans Kupp, DeBord and Neary . . .

 
DeBord, a senior offensive tackle, and Kupp, a junior wide receiver, were honored on the Associated Press All-America first team a day after receiving the same honors on the STATS FCS All-America Team. Neary, a senior guard and two-time All-America selection, was named to the AP second team. The College Sports Madness All-America squad featured Kupp – a three-time All-America wide receiver – on its first team, and DeBord and Neary on the second squad.
 
All three players earned first team All-Big Sky accolades in 2015, were preseason All-America selections, and all three hail from East of the Cascade Mountains in Washington. Kupp is a 2012 graduate of Davis High School in Yakima, Wash.; Neary is a 2011 graduate of Hanford HS in Richland, Wash.; and DeBord is a 2011 graduate of Asotin (Wash.) High School.
 
Together, that trio earned first team All-Big Sky Conference honors and helped Eastern rank eighth in FCS in total offense with an average of 478.5 yards per game, including the nation's top passing offense (353.3 per game). Eastern was also 19th in scoring offense (34.6). Eastern had two of the top six performances for total offense in school history in 2015, including 667 against Montana State to rank fourth.
 
DeBord was a second team all-league pick in 2013 and honorable mention in 2014. Kupp, the 2015 Big Sky Conference Offensive MVP, will attempt to be just the fourth player in the 53-year history of the Big Sky Conference to earn first team all-league honors four times when he returns in 2016 for his senior season.
 
DeBord and Neary were among a group of 14 Eagle seniors who were a part of three Big Sky Conference championships and a trio of playoff berths. Eastern won 27 of 32 Big Sky Conference games and 40 games overall in the last four years. Kupp has been a part of two championships and playoff berth thus far, and a collective total of 29 wins overall and 20 league wins in three seasons.
 
DeBord started a school-record 51 games as an Eagle, playing in a total of 52. Neary started 24 of the 46 games he played, while Kupp has started all 39 he's played in three seasons.
 
The Eagles have now had 24 offensive linemen earn All-America accolades in the last 23 years (1993-2015) while winning 26 first team All-Big Sky Conference honors (1993-2015). In 2014, Neary joined tackle Jake Rodgers as All-America and first team All-Big Sky selections. Rodgers is now on the practice squad with the New York Giants of the National Football League after getting drafted in the seventh round (225^th pick overall) by the Atlanta Falcons.
 
 

EWU Player of the Year Awards . . . 

2015 – Cooper Kupp, FCS Offensive Player of the Year (STATS)
2015 – Cooper Kupp, FCS Offensive Player of the Year (FCS Athletic Director's Association)
2015 – Cooper Kupp, Walter Payton Award (Mickey Charles LLC)
2015 - Cooper Kupp, FCS Wide Receiver Award (College FB Performance Awards)
2015 – Cooper Kupp, Wide Receiver of the Year (FCS Athletic Director's Association)
2013 - Vernon Adams Jr., FCS Performer of the Year (College FB Performance Awards)
2013 - Cooper Kupp, Jerry Rice Award (The Sports Network)
2013 - Cooper Kupp, FCS Wide Receiver Award (College FB Performance Awards)
2013 - Cooper Kupp, Freshman of the Year (College Sporting News)
2013 - Cooper Kupp, Freshman of the Year (College Sports Journal)
2013 - Cooper Kupp, Freshman of the Year (Col. Sports Madness)
2013 - Cooper Kupp, Freshman of the Year (Phil Steele Pub.)
2012 - Vernon Adams Jr., Fresh. of the Year (Col. Sporting News)
2012 - Brandon Kaufman, Wide Receiver Award (College FB Performance Awards)
2011 - Bo Levi Mitchell, Walter Payton Award (The Sports Network)
2011 - Bo Levi Mitchell, Elite Quarterback Award (College Football Performance Awards)
2010 - J.C. Sherritt, Buck Buchanan Award (The Sports Network)
2010 - J.C. Sherritt, Defensive Player of the Year Award (College Sporting News)
2010 - Taiwan Jones, FCS Offensive Player of the Year (Phil Steele Publications)
2010 - Taiwan Jones, FCS Running Back of the Year (College Football Performance Awards)
2008 - Greg Peach, Buck Buchanan Award (The Sports Network)
2005 - Erik Meyer, Walter Payton Award (The Sports Network)
2005 - Erik Meyer, Offensive Player of the Year (I-AA.Org)
2005 - Erik Meyer, Offensive Back of the Year (Football Gazette)
2004 - Michael Roos, Lineman of the Year (I-AA.Org)
2001 - Jesse Chatman, Off. Back of the Year (Football Gazette)
1998 - Bashir Levingston, Specialist of the Year (FB Gazette)
 
 
 

2015 All-America Awards Won By Eagles . . . 

 
#10 - Cooper Kupp - WR/PR - Jr. - Yakima, Wash. (Davis HS '12)
First Team FCS All-America Team (American FB Coaches Association)
First Team FCS All-America Team (STATS)
First Team FCS All-America Team (Associated Press)
First Team FCS All-America Team (FCS Athletic Director's Association)
First Team FCS All-America Team (Walter Camp Football Foundation)
First Team FCS All-America Team (College Sporting News "Fabulous Fifty")
First Team FCS All-America Team (College Sports Madness)
 
#78 - Clay DeBord - OT - Sr. - Asotin, Wash. (Asotin HS '11)
First Team FCS All-America Team (STATS)
First Team FCS All-America Team (Associated Press)
First Team FCS All-America Team (College Sporting News "Fabulous Fifty")
Second Team FCS All-America Team (College Sports Madness)
 
#72 - Aaron Neary - OG - Sr. - Richland, Wash. (Hanford HS '11)
Second Team FCS All-America Team (Associated Press)
Second Team FCS All-America Team (College Sports Madness)
Honorable Mention FCS All-America Team (College Sporting News "Fabulous Fifty")
 
 

More About Cooper Kupp . . .

 
Kupp announced on Nov. 30 he will indeed return for his senior season at EWU in lieu of pursuing professional opportunities a year early.
 
He became only the second wide receiver to ever win the Payton Award, with Brian Finneran from Villanova winning in 1997. He is the third Eagle to win the honor, with quarterback Erik Meyer honored in 2005 and quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell receiving the award in 2011. Eastern has now won the award three times out of eight total Payton's won by the Big Sky Conference.
 
Kupp has previously been honored as a first team selection on All-America teams announced by the American Football Coaches Association, STATS, Associated Press, the FCS Athletic Director's Association, Walter Camp Football Foundation, College Sports Madness and College Sporting News ("Fabulous Fifty" squad). The FCS ADA selected him as its recipient of FCS Wide Receiver of the Year and he received the FCS Wide Receiver Award from College Football Performance Awards. Kupp was also a first team Academic All-American in 2015.
 
A 2012 graduate of Davis High School in Yakima, Wash., Kupp's spectacular 2015 season included 114 receptions. That broke the previous league record of 112 and ranks eighth all-time in FCS history.
 
Kupp, who became only the second wide receiver in 42 years to win the Big Sky Conference Offensive MVP Award, and continuing a long legacy of Eagles to win the award. Eastern players have now won the honor 11 times in the last 15 seasons, and 12 times overall.
 
In 2015, Kupp led FCS in five categories – receptions, receptions per game (10.4), reception yards (1,642), reception yards per game (149.3) and touchdown receptions (19). The players closest to him in FCS were eight catches, 170 yards and four TDs behind him, and in the league the next-best player for catches was teammate Kendrick Bourne (73) and for yards it was NAU's Emmanuel Butler (1,208).
 
Through his junior season, Kupp has established eight Big Sky Conference records, as well as 17 school marks and seven NCAA Football Championships records. His 122.4 average reception yards per game is currently a FCS career record, while his other six FCS records were set during his freshman season. His average of 10.4 catches per game in 2015 was also a league record (sixth all-time in FCS), to go along with six career marks he set in just three seasons – all ending with first team All-Big Sky accolades.
 
Kupp even passed for a pair of touchdowns this season and had another via punt return, giving him 58 total touchdowns scored and 60 accounted for in his 39-game career (all as a starter). In just three years, he already ranks second in FCS history in touchdown catches (56, two behind the record), second in reception yards (4,764, 486 behind the record) and fourth in receptions (311, 84 behind the record). All three marks are Big Sky records, and he also established a new league record for average catches per game (7.97), which also ranks third in FCS history.
 
Kupp has helped Eastern win 29 games overall and 20 in the Big Sky Conference in the past three seasons, with outright Big Sky Conference championships and NCAA Football Championship Playoff berths his freshman and sophomore seasons. Eastern had a six-game winning streak in 2015, but finished the year with a three-game losing streak and final records of 6-5 and 5-3.
 
Kupp and the Eagles will open the 2016 season Sept. 3, 2015, when they play at Washington State. In three career games against Pac-12 opponents, Kupp has caught 28 passes for 510 yards and eight touchdowns – including Autzen Stadium records of 15 catches for 246 yards against Oregon on Sept. 5, 2015.
 
Eastern follows that with games against a pair of teams who played in the NCAA Football Championship Playoffs – North Dakota State and Northern Iowa.