Exceptional performances deserve to be exceptions.
For the first time in league history, two players from the same team have been selected by the coaches as the Big Sky Conference Offensive Players of the Year, as Eastern Washington University sophomore quarterback
Gage Gubrud and senior wide receiver
Cooper Kupp were honored Tuesday (Nov. 22) by the league office.
Both were unanimous selections as first team selections in the league, with Kupp also becoming just the fourth player in league history to earn first team all four seasons. Eastern had a league-high seven players selected to the first team – including four players on EWU's resurgent defense – and a total of 13 players overall were honored.
The reigning Payton Award winner and Offensive Player of the Year in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Kupp repeated as MVP after catching 91 passes for 1,297 yards and 12 touchdowns. Gubrud took over as EWU's starting quarterback this season and passed for 4,071 yards and 40 touchdowns, and was the team's leading rusher with 463 yards and four more scores.
Eastern players have now been selected as the Big Sky Conference Offensive MVP in 12 of the last 16 seasons, including six of the last seven. One of only 10 repeat winners in league history, Kupp in 2015 became only the second wide receiver in 42 years to win the honor.
"It was a unique situation and I thank the coaches in our conference," said Eastern head coach
Beau Baldwin, whose team is 10-1 on the season and enters the FCS Playoffs as the No. 2 seed. "We have a great group of head coaches who talked about it and voted on it. I appreciate their support for that, and I believed in my heart it was the right thing given the season both players had. Both had MVP type of seasons, and I thought it would be unfortunate for one of them not to receive it based on their body of work during the year. It was earned by those two players, and I thank the league for doing something a little different there."
Kupp is the first wide receiver and just the fourth player overall in the 54-year history of the Big Sky Conference to earn first team All-Big Sky honors four seasons. The others are Weber State's Trevyn Smith (RB 2006-09), Weber State's Scott Shields (Kicker 1995-97, Punter 1996, Strong Safety 1998) and Charvez Foger (RB 1985-88).
"It really is unbelievable," said Baldwin of Kupp's four-peat. "It adds to his legacy and the accomplishments – just pile them up. What he did was hard to do, because it doesn't just require production on the field for four years, but it requires truly staying healthy and battling through things. Anytime you have a setback during the year it can take away from that opportunity. His consistency, work and preparation week-after-week and year-after-year has led him to that kind of earned accomplishment."
Kupp is a 2012 graduate of Davis High School in Yakima, Wash., and Gubrud graduated from McMinnville (Ore.) HS in 2014. They were joined on the first team by senior wide receiver
Shaq Hill, senior linebacker
Miquiyah Zamora, senior safety
Zach Bruce, senior defensive end
Samson Ebukam and junior defensive tackle
Jay-Tee Tiuli.
"It's an impressive group," said Baldwin. "Each one of those players will tell you that team success is more important, but team success leads to more players recognized individually. We have a bunch of team-first players on our list of first teamers who are very deserving of the highest honors in the conference. In a 13-team league it's tough to receive any recognition from an all-league standpoint, let alone first team. It's really a great accomplishment for those players."
Honored on the second team were senior wide receiver
Kendrick Bourne, sophomore center
Spencer Blackburn and Kupp as a return specialist (seven punt returns for a 22.9 average and a touchdown). Third team honors were won by junior cornerback
Nzuzi Webster, while honorable mention was given to sophomore safety
Mitch Fettig, sophomore offensive tackle
Nick Ellison and freshman offensive tackle
Tristen Taylor.
Hill, the first player in school history to win four Big Sky Conference championships, was honored for the fourth year as well. He earned third team All-Big Sky honors in 2014 and honorable mention in 2013, and was honorable mention as a return specialist as a freshman in 2012. The 2012 graduate of Brookside Christian HS in Stockton, Calif., had 65 catches for 1,014 yards and 15 touchdowns in the regular season.
A year ago, no EWU defensive players earned first team honors and this year that side of the ball had more than the vaunted Eagle offense. Eastern's defense allowed only 24.4 points per game (195 total, second-best in the league) during its 8-0 Big Sky Conference start after allowing 40.7 against three challenging non-conference opponents. Eastern out-scored opponents by an average of 21.0 points per game in eight league games (45.4 to 24.4, total of 363-195).
Zamora, a 2012 graduate of Chiawana High School in Pasco, Wash., finished 10 games in the regular season with 84 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks and two passes broken up. Ebukam had 57 tackles with a team-high 6 1/2 sacks, five quarterback hurries, a forced fumble and a pair of fumble recoveries. He graduated from David Douglas HS in Portland, Ore., in 2013.
Bruce is a former walk-on who graduated in 2012 from University HS in Spokane. He had a team-leading 95 tackles with three interceptions, a pass broken up and a forced fumble. Tiuli added 29 tackles and four sacks, and is a 2014 graduate of Federal Way (Wash.) High School.
Bourne, a 2013 graduate of Milwaukie Arts Academy in Portland, Ore., had 61 regular season catches for 925 yards and six touchdowns.
Webster, one of four Eagle cornerbacks to rotate playing time this season, finished with 41 tackles, an interception and five passes broken up. He is a 2014 graduate of Deer Valley HS in Antioch, Calif. Fettig, a 2014 graduate of Olympia (Wash.) HS, had 73 tackles with three interceptions and five passes broken up as a sophomore.
The three offensive linemen honored helped Eastern rank second in FCS in total offense with an average of 541.3 yards per game, trailing only Sam Houston State at 584.0 per outing. Eastern is also the FCS leader in passing offense (406.8 yards per game), and is third in scoring offense (44.2) and third in third down conversions (54.0 percent).
Blackburn, who took over at center when senior
Jerrod Jones was injured in EWU's third game, is a 2014 graduate of Meridian HS in Bellingham, Wash. Ellison graduated in 2014 from Moscow (Idaho) HS, and Taylor is from Stockton, Calif., and graduated from Stagg HS in 2015.
Nine of EWU's previous MVP awards have been quarterbacks, including Gubrud,
Vernon Adams (2014 & 2013),
Bo Levi Mitchell (2011),
Matt Nichols (2009 and 2007),
Erik Meyer (2005 and 2004) and
Josh Blankenship (2002), as well as running backs
Jesse Chatman (2001) and
Taiwan Jones (2010). An Eagle has now won the Big Sky MVP on offense 13 times in school history (
Harry Leons 1997) since it was first awarded in 1974.
J.C. Sherritt was the Defensive MVP in 2010, becoming the fifth Eagle to earn that honor (
Jason Marsh 1993,
Chris Scott 1997,
Joey Cwik 2005,
Greg Peach 2008).
Big Sky Conference Offensive Co-MVP
*Quarterback - 8 -
Gage Gubrud - 6-2 - 195 - So. - 1L* - McMinnville, Ore. (McMinnville HS '14)
*#Wide Receiver - 10 -
Cooper Kupp - 6-2 - 215 - Sr. - 3L* - Yakima, Wash. (Davis HS '12)
First Team
*Quarterback - 8 -
Gage Gubrud - 6-2 - 195 - So. - 1L* - McMinnville, Ore. (McMinnville HS '14)
*Wide Receiver - 10 -
Cooper Kupp - 6-2 - 215 - Sr. - 3L* - Yakima, Wash. (Davis HS '12)
~Wide Receiver - 1 -
Shaq Hill - 5-10 - 180 - Sr. - 3L* - Stockton, Calif. (Brookside Christian HS '11)
!Defensive End - 3 -
Samson Ebukam - 6-3 - 240 - Sr. - 3L - Portland, Ore. (David Douglas HS '13)
Defensive Tackle - 99 -
Jay-Tee Tiuli - 6-4 - 315 - Jr. - 2L - Seattle, Wash. (Federal Way HS '14)
$Inside Linebacker - 4 -
Miquiyah Zamora - 6-1 - 230 - Sr. - 3L* - Pasco, Wash. (Chiawana HS '12)
$Safety - 32 -
Zach Bruce - 5-10 - 195 - Sr. - 3L* - Spokane, Wash. (University HS '12)
Second Team
%Wide Receiver - 11 -
Kendrick Bourne - 6-3 - 190 - Sr. - 3L - Portland, Ore. (Milwaukie Arts Academy '13)
Center - 75 -
Spencer Blackburn - 6-2 - 285 - So. - SQ* - Bellingham, Wash. (Meridian HS '14)
Return Specialist - 10 -
Cooper Kupp - 6-2 - 215 - Sr. - 3L* - Yakima, Wash. (Davis HS '12)
Third Team
Cornerback - 6 -
Nzuzi Webster - 5-10 - 170 - So. - 1L* - Antioch, Calif. (Deer Valley HS '14)
Honorable Mention
Offensive Tackle - 65 -
Tristen Taylor - 6-6 - 320 - Fr. - HS* - Stockton, Calif. (Stagg HS '15)
Offensive Tackle - 74 -
Nick Ellison - 6-6 - 300 - So. - 1L* - Moscow, Idaho (Moscow HS '14)
Safety - 13 -
Mitch Fettig - 6-0 - 190 - So. - 1L* - Olympia, Wash. (Olympia HS '14)
*Unanimous first team selections. #Big Sky Conference Offensive MVP in 2015 and First Team All-Big Sky in 2015, 2014, 2013 (only fourth four-time first team honoree in league history), as well as third team as a return specialist in 2014. ~Third team All-Big Sky in 2014 and honorable mention All-Big Sky as a wide receiver in 2013 and as a return specialist in 2012. !Second team All-Big Sky in 2015 and 2014. $Honorable mention All-Big Sky in 2014. %Second team All-Big Sky in 2015 and honorable mention in 2014.
EWU Winners of Big Sky Offensive MVP
2016 –
Gage Gubrud, Quarterback &
Cooper Kupp, Wide Receiver
2015 –
Cooper Kupp, Wide Receiver
2014 -
Vernon Adams Jr., Quarterback
2013 -
Vernon Adams Jr., Quarterback
2011 -
Bo Levi Mitchell, Quarterback
2010 -
Taiwan Jones, Running Back
2009 -
Matt Nichols, Quarterback
2007 -
Matt Nichols, Quarterback
2005 -
Erik Meyer, Quarterback
2004 -
Erik Meyer, Quarterback
2002 -
Josh Blankenship, Quarterback
2001 -
Jesse Chatman, Running Back
1997 -
Harry Leons, Quarterback
On Gage Gubrud: "We had some question marks, and one of them was exactly who was going to play quarterback and how that was going to look once we were on the field. What Gage has been able to accomplish working with (quarterbacks coach and passing game quarterback)
Troy Taylor is huge. His production was impressive, especially with the challenging schedule we had even before we got into league play. He's taken most every snap and has added pieces to our offense that maybe weren't there a year ago. But again, he's worked at it. He worked the entire off-season, and prepped and grinded to be at this point as a quarterback. I give him a lot of credit for that."
On Four First-Team Selections on Defense: "I'm very happy for those defensive players who were honored – they've put in a lot of time with (defensive coordinator)
Jeff Schmedding and that staff. They worked extremely hard in the off-season to get us to a level we believed we could get to as a defense. It was an incredible year for what we did defensively. Once we got into league play we really started to find a rhythm. We got stops when stops were needed, and got some turnovers – those weren't there to that level in 2015. That was a huge spark for in where we are right now as a team."
On Three Senior Receivers: "I remember that question was asked in 2012. We aren't going to just replace this group, we know that.
Cooper Kupp, Shaq Hill and
Kendrick Bourne were pretty incredible, including the runs they've had this season and in their career. It's all come together this year, and for them to stay healthy and play this whole season together has been a blast. I'm excited for the rest of the season with these players and enjoy every minute of it. They are not only great football players, but they are just great young men I enjoy being around day-to-day. But, I'll be excited for that next group when they come out next spring. It will be exciting to see those guys with a little chip on their shoulder as well."
