*** 2018 Academic Honors Candidate ***

2019: Listed as a starter at defensive end on preseason depth chart. In EWU’s three scrimmages in the spring, including the Red-White Game, Townsend had a trio of sacks and a forced fumble.

2018: Was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team after starting 10 of the 15 games he played. Townsend was one of 18 finalists nationally for the Piesman Trophy (rhymes with Heisman), an annual award given by SB Nation to a “lineman who does something special with the ball in his hands.” He had a career-high seven tackles, a quarterback hurry and a key 62-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown in EWU’s 70-17 win over Cal Poly (9/22/18). Eastern led 28-10 when the Mustangs were driving. But with eight seconds left in the half, a sack and forced fumble by Mitchell Johnson led to the TD return by Townsend to give EWU a 35-10 lead at halftime. It was the third-longest in school history, ranking only behind a pair of 70-yard returns (the last in 1996). He made the first start of his Eastern career in EWU’s season opener versus Central Washington (9/1/18), and had a career-high seven tackles in EWU’s fourth game of the season versus Cal Poly (9/22/18). Townsend had three sacks and 24 total tackles during EWU’s seven-game winning streak from Oct. 27 to Dec. 15. He had six tackles in the FCS Playoffs versus Nicholls (12/1/18), then had 11 more tackles in the next three games. He forced a fumble on a sack and that was recovered by Chris Ojoh with 11 seconds left to clinch a 34-29 victory over UC Davis (12/8/18) in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs. His other sacks came versus Weber State (10/13/18), Idaho (10/27/18) and UCD in the regular season (11/10/18). He had three sacks in three spring scrimmages, with all three coming in the Red-White spring game.

2017: Redshirted. He was the team’s defensive scout team player of the week once.

2016: Was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team. He played in 13 games and finished the year with 13 tackles and a sack. He had a sack and two tackles against Northern Iowa (9/17/16) and one game later against Northern Arizona (9/24/16) he had a season-high four tackles. He had nine tackles with 2 1/2 sacks in three spring scrimmages.

2015: Was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team. He played in all 11 games as a true freshman, finishing with 22 tackles. He had a season-high four tackles versus both Cal Poly (11/5/15) and Montana (11/14/15).

HS: Graduated from Okanogan HS in 2015. He capped his high school career by earning defensive MVP honors for the East squad in June of 2015 at the Earl Barden All-Star Classic, an all-star game with the top 2A, 1A, 2B and 1B seniors in the state of Washington. Although the West won the game 20-14, they were held to 120 yards rushing and 83 yards passing. A three-sport athlete at Okanogan, he was a finalist for the North Central Washington Athlete of the Year. As a senior in 2014, Townsend was a two-way selection on the Associated Press 2B All-State first team as a receiver and a linebacker. He was selected to the All-Central Washington 2B All-League team as Defensive MVP and a first team selection as a tight end. He was a two-way starter for the State 2B champions, who defeated unbeaten and top-ranked Napavine in the title game. Townsend caught a touchdown pass in the 17-14 victory. As a junior in 2013, he was a first team All-Caribou Trail League selection as a linebacker and led the team in tackles. He was also a first team All-Caribou League pick at linebacker and an honorable mention selection on the offensive line after his sophomore season in 2012. He was selected three times as his team’s defensive MVP. He was an honorable mention selection to The Associated Press 1A All-State basketball team as a both a junior and senior, and was also a first team All-Caribou League pick. He helped Okanogan to a sixth-place finish at the State 1A Tournament by averaging 24 points and 10 rebounds per game in the tournament on 54 percent shooting from the field. Okanogan lost to Kings in the State 1A championship game in his junior campaign. Earlier in the 2014-15 season, he became Okanogan’s all-time leading scorer, breaking a school record (1,438 points) that stood for more than 50 years. He was also an All-Caribou League baseball player each season since his freshman year.

Personal: Biology major at EWU. Born 5/2/96 in Omak, Wash. Parents are Nathan and Janell Townsend.
 

Year	GP	TT	Hi	S	TL-Yds	FF-FR	PBU	I-Yds
2015	11	22	4	0	5-5	0-0	0	0-0
2016	13	13	4	1	2-10	1-0	0	0-0
2018	15	47	7	4	5-27	2-1	1	0-0
Totals	39	82	7	5	12-42	3-1	1	0-0

 
Jim Townsend Long Plays of 40+ Yards (1)
62 yard fumble recovery (TD) –  Cal Poly – 9/22/18 . . . #3 longest in EWU history