Illinois State sophomore linebacker Boomer Grigsby made history again on Wednesday when the Canton, Ill., native was named the 2002 Gateway Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year. By winning the award, Grigsby became the first sophomore in league history to garner the honor.
In addition to the defensive player of the year honor, Grigsby was tabbed a first-team all-conference selection with Jonathan Friend. Vito Golson, Stafford Davis and Ray Robinson were all named to the leagues second team, while Stephen Carroll, Dennis Butler and Quincy Washington each claimed honorable mention honors.
Head coach Denver Johnson was proud of Grigsby and all of his all-conference recipients.
Im just elated for Boomer, Johnson said. This is a great award for him and our entire defense. There are a lot of moving parts on that side of the ball, but Boomer is definitely a key member of our defense. Im really proud of Boomer and this recognition is well deserved.
The honors and recognition continue to pile up for Grigsby, who was just added to The Sports Networks Buck Buchanan Award watch list. The Buchanan Award is given to the top defensive player in I-AA football and Grigsby is one of 16 candidates. Grigsby compiled 179 tackles on the year, which was the highest total in I-AA. He finished with 108 solo stops, breaking the NCAA record for all levels, along with 16 tackles for loss, four sacks, two fumble recoveries and two fumble forced.
It marked the first time in 15 years that a Redbird won the league defensive player of the year award with Brian Gant walking away with the honor in 1986.
Friend, a native of Orange, Texas, finished the year with a school-record 25 tackles for a loss of 119 yards. The senior also recorded 7.5 sacks and 88 tackles, 58 of which were solo stops. Along with Grigsby, Friend anchored a Redbird defense the accumulated 90 TFLs and 27 sacks on the season.
Golson, a second-team selection last year, repeated the honor at wide receiver in 2002. A senior from St. Petersburg, Fla., Golson led the team in receiving yards with 740 on the year for an average of 67.3. In 11 games he had 45 catches and five touchdowns.
Davis started all 11 games at right guard as a redshirt freshman. The Orange Park, Fla., native played in 785 snaps and only had three missed assignments while not allowing a sack all season. He also had 98 knockdowns and the second-highest grade on the line at 87 percent.
Robinson, along with Friend, anchored the Redbird defensive line. The Trenton, N.J., native posted 81 tackles, which ranked second on the team for defensive linemen. He was third on the team with 10 tackles for loss (-32) and second in sacks with 4.5 (-24).
