Nov. 29, 2005
ST. LOUIS -
For only the fourth time in Gateway Football Conference history, and the first at Illinois State, teammates swept the league's player of the year honors when Laurént Robinson and Brent Hawkins were named Tuesday as the 2005 Gateway Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively.
Hawkins and Robinson highlighted Illinois State's five first team all-conference selections, the most for the `Birds since 2000. Joining the league's MVPs on the first team were offensive lineman Stafford Davis, linebacker Cameron Siskowic and punter Ryan Hoffman. Senior offensive lineman Mike Stegeman also garnered second team all-league honors, while quarterback Luke Drone, tight end Jonathan Denley and defensive back James Temple were each honorable mention selections.
"I'm thrilled for Brent and Laurént on their recognition and I feel they are well deserved," said head coach Denver Johnson. "I'm sure both are humbled because there are a number of guys that contributed to their success and that showed in the number of our all-conference players. Obviously we are pleased about all our all-conference selections and we hope it's indicative of the type of players we are bringing into this program."
Robinson, a 2005 Walter Payton Award finalist, became the second Redbird to claim the league's offensive player of the year award joining Toby Davis, who won the honor in 1992. The junior wide receiver ranks No. 1 nationally in yards per game (133.2) and No. 2 in catches per contest (7.8). He set league and school season marks with 1,465 receiving yards on a conference-tying best 86 catches. The three-time GFC Offensive Player of the Week posted six 100-yard receiving games, including two games of 200 yards or more, highlighted by his 292 receiving yards on 14 catches against Indiana State in the season finale. The Rockledge, Fla., native finished with 12 touchdown catches and had three games where he scored three touchdowns in each.
"I'm really surprised I won the award, but I'm happy," said Robinson. "We had such a good balance this year offensively with our running and passing games, and none of this would have been possible without the play of the offensive line. I really think the relationship that Luke and I built during the summer and having a friendship off the field just carried into the games and made us successful."
For the fourth straight season, the Gateway's top defensive player wore an Illinois State uniform. Hawkins joins three-time winner Boomer Grigsby and Brian Gant as the only Redbirds to win the league honor. The 2005 Buck Buchanan Award finalist finished the regular season leading all of Division I-AA in tackles for loss (26.5) and forced fumbles (7), while ranking second in sacks (17). His 17 quarterback sacks set the Illinois State and Gateway Conference single season records, while he also claimed the school mark for tackles for loss in a season with 26.5 and forced fumbles with seven. The Godfrey, Ill., native was named the conference player of the week twice and was the national player of the week once after his five-sack performance against co-conference champion Northern Iowa. He also led all league defensive linemen with 67 tackles.
"It is definitely an honor and I owe a lot of thank you's to my teammates and coaches ," Hawkins said. "Coming into the season everybody (on the team) knew we had a great defense and each of us stepped up. If you look at our stats from last season, we had a lot of people step up and that made us better as a unit. I got to play with a lot of great players and this honor is a tribute to them."
Davis closes out his Illinois State career as a four-time all-conference selection, including back-to-back first team honors. The senior offensive lineman made the move to center this season and started all 46 games of his collegiate career. In 2005, Davis helped pave the way for the most prolific offense in Redbird history. ISU averaged 39.2 points per game and a league best 40.7 points per conference game, while also compiling a league-best 477.5 total yards of offense per game,
which also ranked No. 4 nationally.
As the only I-AA punter to grace the 2005 Ray Guy Award Watch List, Hoffman was a lock to earn first team honors. The three-time All-Gateway selection was awarded the league's special teams player of the week honor three times in 2005. He led the conference with a 42.2 yards per punt average, which also ranked No. 10 nationally, and owns Illinois State's best career punting average with 42.2 yards per kick. During the year, Hoffman placed 12 of his 41 punts inside the 20-yard line, including nine inside the 10, while having nine punts 50 or more yards in length.
Siskowic, Illinois State's second 2005 Buck Buchanan Award finalist, finished the regular season as the conference's tackle leader with 132 stops, 37 more than the league's runner-up. He also led the league in conference games with 87 tackles for a 12.4 tackle per game average, while ranking third in the conference in tackles for loss with 14.5. The product of San Diego, Calif., finished the season ranking fourth nationally in tackles per game with 12 stops per contest and also ranked No. 15 in tackles for loss.
The league office will continue to announce post-season awards when the conference unveils the all-newcomer team on Wednesday.
