• AFCA All-American Release |
PDF
Eastern Illinois redshirt junior wide receiver
Erik Lora has been named an 2012 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) FCS All-American Team. Lora was the only OVC player on the 25-person team.
The AFCA has selected an All-America team since 1945 and currently selects teams in all five of its divisions. What makes these teams so special is that they are the only ones chosen exclusively by the men who know the players the best — the coaches themselves.
Lora, who finished fourth in the Walter Payton Award balloting, earned OVC Offensive Player of the Year honors following his record setting season. Lora finished the year with 136 receptions which broke the previous FCS record of 123. He finished with 1,664 yards which is the fourth-highest single season total in FCS history. Along the way Lora set the school record for receptions and receiving yards in a game along with the OVC record for receptions in a game (21). Lora had seven games with double-figure receptions and two more with nine catches as he averaged 11.3 catches per game, the fourth-best single season average in FCS history. Lora opened the year with seven straight 100-yard receiving games, the most by an FCS receiver since 2000. He finished with nine 100-yard receiving games.
The AFCA has selected an All-America team every year since 1945. This year’s AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team is made up of 18 seniors, five juniors and two sophomores.
A day earlier EIU head coach
Dino Babers was named the AFCA Region 3 Coach of the Year after leading the Panthers to the FCS Playoffs posting a 7-5 record in his first season as the head coach. Hired in December of 2011, Babers inherited a team that had posted back-to-back 2-9 seasons including a last place finish in the OVC in 2011. In 2012 Babers led EIU to the OVC Championship with a 6-1 record as he was named the OVC Coach of the Year. He became just the fourth coach in OVC history to take a team to the league championship in his first season as a collegiate head coach. Babers helped EIU become just the fourth program in OVC history to finish last one season and win the championship in the next. The Panthers ended the regular season ranked No. 25 in the Sports Network FCS poll making their 14th FCS playoff appearance.
Babers will be honored with his award at the AFCA Convention in January.