*** 2017 Honors Candidate ***

Career: With 15 starts in his career, he enters the 2017 season with the most on the offense (sixth overall).

2017: Listed as a starter at left offensive tackle on the preseason depth chart.

2016: Earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors (as selected by the league’s head coaches). He started all 11 of the games he played in 2016, missing a trio because of injuries. A rib injury early in the year kept him out of games against UC Davis (10/1/16) and Northern Colorado (10/8/16), and he missed the Central Arkansas (12/3/16) game in the FCS Playoffs with a concussion. The offensive line shared the team offensive player of the week honor in a 35-16 win over Montana (10/29/16) and again in a 38-0 win over Richmond (12/10/16) in the FCS Playoffs. He helped Eastern rank second in FCS in total offense with an average of 529.6 yards per game, trailing only Sam Houston State at 547.3 per outing. Eastern was the FCS leader in passing offense (401.0 yards per game), and was third in third down conversions (52.1 percent), third in completion percentage (.679), third in scoring offense (42.4), and third in passing efficiency (168.2). Eastern quarterbacks were sacked only 24 times in 620 passing attempts (one sack per 25.8 attempts).

2015: He made the first start of his career at right tackle against Montana State (9/19/15) as an injury replacement for senior Cassidy Curtis. Ellison started the next three games after that as well, with EWU winning all four games with Ellison in the starting lineup. He 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 (9/19/15) to rank fourth.

2014: Redshirted.

HS: Graduated from Moscow HS in 2014. In his first season as a high school football player, he was selected as the Defensive Newcomer of the Year in the 4A Inland Empire League. He was a two-way starter as a senior, playing defensive end and tight end for the Bears, who finished 3-6. He also took on the role as punter. He did not play football his sophomore or junior seasons, but was an outstanding prep basketball player. Following his senior season he was picked to play in the 11th annual Idaho State High School All-Star basketball game on March 15, 2014, at North Idaho College. He was named Idaho’s 4A Player of the Year in 2012-13 by The Idaho Statesman. He was also named to the All-Idaho basketball team by USA Today as a junior, and was the 4A Inland Empire League MVP. He was also selected as the North Idaho 4A/5A Player of the Year at the annual North Idaho Sports Banquet. Ellison led Moscow to a runner-up finish in the State 4A Tournament, averaging 18.3 points a game in the tourney to earn tourney MVP honors. He averaged 14 points and six rebounds for the season and helped Moscow win 10 games in a row at one point during the year. Moscow finished 8-14 his senior season and made a repeat appearance at the State 4A Tournament where it was eliminated after two losses.

Personal: Geology major. Born 9/22/95 in Powell, Wyo. Will turn 23 one day before Eastern plays at Montana. Full name is Nicholas Alexander Ellison. His parents are Robert and Rebecca Ellison.