Stats Perform All-America Release
 
A pair of Eastern Washington University football players in Eric Barriere and Tristen Taylor have been named to the Stats Perform FCS All-America Team, as announced on Monday morning (Dec. 20).
 
Barriere, a senior out of Inglewood, Calif., has been named to the Stats Perform first team offense as a quarterback for the second-straight year. Taylor, a senior out of Stockton, Calif., made third team offense as an offensive lineman for the first time in his career.
 
The Stats Perform FCS All-America team honored 110 players representing 15 FCS conferences and 60 schools. This is the second postseason All-America honor for Taylor who was named Third Team Offense All-America by HERO Sports along with earning a program record fifth All-Big Sky honor by being placed on the first team.
 
Barriere has been named the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year for the second-consecutive season along with earning a spot on the first team. He is also a Walter Payton Award finalist and was named to the FCS ADA All-America team. Barriere was also honored by HERO Sports on the first team All-America, and is on the Associated Press FCS All-America second team as well.
 
The duo helped Eastern advance to the FCS playoffs for the 15^th time in program history, where they advanced to the Second Round. Eastern finished 10-3 overall and 6-2 in Big Sky Conference play. Together, Barriere, Taylor and the rest of the Eagles racked up 555.7 yards of total offense per game which is a new school record.
 
More on Tristen Taylor: Taylor started all 60 games he played in his career at Eastern Washington, which is a program best in games played in and games started. He missed 12 games in 2018 with a knee injury, but started 28-of-28 games as an Eagle until the season-ending injury kept him out of the lineup on Sept. 22, 2018, versus Cal Poly. He was a five-time All-Big Sky selection during his seven years with the Eagles, earning first team honors in 2021 and 2020-21, plus was named to the second team in 2019 and honorable mention nods in 2017 and 2016. He played four different positions on the offensive line during his final year with the Eagles, helping EWU put up a school record 555.7 yards of total offense per game.
 
More on Eric Barriere: Barriere just wrapped up his illustrious career with Eastern Washington in the Second Round of the FCS playoffs, helping the Eagles finish 10-3 overall with a 6-2 mark in Big Sky Conference play. He ended his tenure at EWU third all-time in the FCS in total offense (15,394), third in passing yards (13,809) and tied for fourth in passing touchdowns (121), all of which are also Eastern Washington and Big Sky Conference career records
 
Barriere had 31 performances of at least 300 yards of total offense and 22 with at least 300 yards passing in his 51 games as an Eagle. He has had 17 with at least 400 yards of total offense and 11 with at least 400 passing, including school records of 600 yards passing (No. 8 in FCS history & No. 5 in BSC history), 577 yards of total offense, seven touchdown passes and eight TD's responsible for versus Idaho on Oct. 16, 2021. He now owns five of the top six passing performances in school history, and five of the top seven performances for total offense.
 
In his career he has completed 62.0 percent of his passes (1007-of-1623), good for 13,809 yards, 121 touchdowns and 29 interceptions, and has rushed 376 times for 1,585 yards and 22 more TDs (a school-record total of 143 touchdowns accounted for). His touchdown passes, passing yardage and 15,394 yards of offense are all school and Big Sky records.
 
After setting two new school records of 47 completions and 80 attempts in EWU's second-round matchup at Montana, Barriere now owns the school record for career completions (1,007) and career pass attempts (1,623). The Inglewood, Calif., native also owns the EWU career rushing record for a quarterback with 1,605 yards, breaking the previous record of 1,232 yards by Vernon Adams Jr. (2012-14).
 
Barriere is a preseason All-America selection and on watch lists for two end-of-season player of the year awards in FCS. Twelve times in his career he has won Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors (six in 2021, three in 2020-21, twice in 2019, once in 2018). He has received accolades as National FCS Player of the Week for his performances in three different games, including a pair from Stats Perform.
 
MORE ON BARRIERE'S 2021 CAMPAIGN:
 
In addition to his single game school records versus Idaho, he finished the game 26-of-35 passes (74 percent) for a passing efficiency rating of 284.32 that was close to the school record of 313.5. Barriere's performance earned him accolades as the FCS Stats Perform National Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, College Sports Madness FCS Offensive Player of the Week, as well as the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) FCS Top Performer award. In addition, he earned ROOT Sports Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors for the 11th time of his career and fifth this season.
 
One week prior to the Idaho game, he had a 32-of-41 performance for 347 yards and three touchdowns as EWU led 43-10 at halftime en route to a 63-17 romp at Northern Colorado on Oct. 9. In the first half alone, he was 23-of-29 (79 percent) for 231 yards as he earned ROOT Sports Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors (his 10th).
 
He had a 30-of-43 passing performance in a 50-21 Big Sky Conference win at Southern Utah, throwing for 518 of EWU's then school-record 554 passing yards (the other 36 came on a fake punt). He had four touchdown passes against the Thunderbirds. Barriere had no interceptions for the third-straight game, and entered the Montana game with 125 attempts without a pick after throwing two in EWU's season-opening 35-33 win at UNLV. His streak was snapped at 154 attempts versus the Grizzlies.
 
Following the Southern Utah game on Sept. 25, he received his second-straight FCS National Offensive Player of the Week accolade from College Sports Madness. He also received honorable mention as FCS Offensive Player of the Week from Stats Perform and honorable mention as the FCS Performer of the week from College Football Performance Awards. In addition, his second-straight 500-yard passing performance on the road helped him win him his ninth-career ROOT Sports Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week award, and he earned the same honor from CSN.
 
He broke FCS records for most passing yards (487) and total offense (497) in a single half versus Western Illinois on Sept. 18, 2021, as EWU took a 55-21 halftime lead in the 62-56 shootout victory. The old records of 480 and 491 were set in 2012 by Taylor Heinicke of Old Dominion versus New Hampshire. Barriere finished with a school-record 562 yards of total offense (542 passing yards were just seven from the school record).
 
He had the most yards in back-to-back games in school history in both passing and total offense with 542 passing at Western Illinois on Sept. 18, 2021 (a then school-record 562 of total offense) and 518 pass a week later at Southern Utah (546 total). He is the first FCS player with consecutive 500-yard passing performances since Cornell's Jeff Mathews in 2011 (521 versus Cornell and 548 at Penn).
 
The performance at Western Illinois earned Barriere his eighth-career ROOT Sports Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week award and he was also recognized nationally as he was named the Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week, the College Football Performance Association FCS National Performer of the Week and the College Sports Madness National Offensive and Big Sky Player of the Week.
 
He was selected as Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year and was the runner-up for the Walter Payton Award in the 2020-21 season. He was selected to six different FCS All-America squads during the season impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. A unanimous first team All-Big Sky choice in the 2020-21 season, he earned third team All-Big Sky Conference honors as both a sophomore (2018) and junior (2019).
 
He finished the 2020-21 season ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense (sixth, 369.0 per game), passing offense (seventh, 348.4), passing touchdowns (second, 19) and points responsible for (ninth, 17.4 per game).
 
In 2019, Barriere finished fifth in the voting for the prestigious Walter Payton Award presented by STATS, and earned third team FCS All-America honors from Hero Sports. That season he finished second in FCS in total offense with an average of 355.8 yards per game and was third in passing (309.3), ninth with 31 touchdown passes and fourth in points responsible for (20.2 per game with 31 TDs passing, eight rushing and a two-point conversion).
 
2021 EWU Postseason Honors and Ranking (as of 12/20/2021)
 
All-Big Sky Conference
QB Eric Barriere – Offensive Player of the Year / First Team Offense
WR Talolo Limu-Jones – First Team Offense
OL Tristen Taylor – First Team Offense
RB Dennis Merritt – Second Team Offense
WR Andrew Boston – Second Team Offense
WR Efton Chism III – Third Team Offense
WR Freddie Roberson – Third Team Offense
OL Wyatt Musser – Third Team Offense
DT Joshua Jerome – Third Team Defense
DE Mitchell Johnson – Third Team Defense
ILB Jack Sendelbach – Third Team Defense
DB Calin Criner – Third Team Defense
ILB Ty Graham – Honorable Mention
 
Walter Payton Award Finalist
QB Eric Barriere – Among Top Three in Final Voting (winner announced on Jan. 7)
 
HERO Sports All-America
QB Eric Barriere – First Team Offense
WR Talolo Limu-Jones – Third Team Offense
OL Tristen Taylor – Third Team Offense
WR Efton Chism III – Freshman Offense
WR Freddie Roberson – Sophomore Offense
DT Joshua Jerome – Sophomore Defense
 
Associated Press FCS All-America
QB Eric Barriere – Second Team Offense, Quarterback
 
FCS ADA All-America
QB Eric Barriere
 
Stats Perform FCS All-America
QB Eric Barriere – First Team Offense, Quarterback
OL Tristen Taylor – Third Team Offense, Offensive Line