WACO, Texas - Eastern Illinois senior strong safety Tristan Burge was named to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-American team on Tuesday. The AFCA team is the first to be released for the 2006 season and consists of only a first team with 25 players selected ? 11 offense, 11 defense, a punter, a kicker and an all-purpose player.
Burge, a first-team All-OVC selection this season, finished the 2006 season with 118 total tackles including 48 solo and five for a loss. Burge also had two sacks, two interceptions and three pass break-ups over the course of the Panthers 13 games. EIU finished the season 8-5 winning a share of the team’s second straight Ohio Valley Conference championship. EIU was knocked off in the NCAA Football Championship playoff first round. Burge earned first team All-OVC honors for the second straight season. He becomes the 11th EIU player to earn AFCA All-American honors, the 13th best total among NCAA I-AA schools.
Joining Burge on the AFCA defense were defensive linemen Tory Collins (Northwestern State), Mike Murphy (Montana), Marques Murrell (Appalachian State), Chris White (Cal Poly), Matt King (Maine), linebackers Akeem Jordan (James Madison), Colin Disch (Albany), John Mohring (Georgia Southern) and defensive backs Dre Dokes (Northern Iowa), Stacey Thomas (Texas Southern).
The AFCA offense was composed of wide receivers David Ball (New Hampshire), Bruce Hocker (Duquesne), running backs Justise Hairston (Central Connecticut), Marcus Mason (Youngstown State), quarterback Tyler Thigpen (Coastal Carolina), tight end Ben Patrick (Delaware) and offensive linemen Jackie Skipper (Arkansas Pine-Bluff), Alex Miller (Massachusetts), Mike Saint Germain (Lafayette), Ed McCarthy (Yale), Kerry Brown (Appalachian State).
The AFCA specialists were punter Breck Ackley (Southern), kicker Andrew Paterini (Hampton) and all-purpose returner Arkee Whitlock (Southern Illinois).
The AFCA has chosen an All-America team every year since 1945. 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. The five teams now chosen for each AFCA division evolved from a single 11-player squad in 1945. The AFCA’s Division I-AA All-
America Selection Committee is made up of three head coaches from each of the AFCA’s nine districts, one of whom serves as a district chairman, along with another head coach who serves as the chairman of the selection committee. The coaches in each district are responsible for ranking the top players in their respective districts prior to a conference call between the district
chairmen and the committee chairman on which the team is chosen.