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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Freshman running back Terrance West of the Tigers has been honored as a first team selection on the prestigious 2011 Walter Camp Football Foundation Football Championship Subdivision All-America team.
The team was selected by the head coaches and sports information directors of the Football Championship Subdivision schools and certified by the accounting and auditing firm, Marcum LLP.
The team is chosen to honor Walter Camp, “The Father of American Football.” He first selected an All-America team in 1889. A former Yale University athlete and football coach, Camp is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting All-America teams for the Football Bowl and Championship subdivisions.
West, who earned first team All-America honors from The Sports Network and was an Associated Press second team All-American, is one of two Colonial Athletic Association representatives on the Walter Camp All-America team. Junior linebacker Matt Evans of New Hampshire was also honored.
Named as the CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year, West helped the “Turnaround Tigers” post a 9-3 record and win the 2011 CAA championship. The Tigers, who had a 1-10 record in 2010, were the most improved Division I team in the nation as they earned their first-ever NCAA FCS playoff berth.
The second-leading rusher in the CAA, West earned first team Al
l-CAA notice as he rushed for 1,294 yards in 11 games. He ranks 12th in NCAA FCS with 117.6 rushing yards per game and averaged an impressive 6.7 yards per carry.
A four-time selection as the CAA Rookie of the Week, West was also honored as the CAA Offensive Player of the Week twice. He ran for more than 100 yards in six consecutive games and had a career high 261 yards on 23 carries in the Tigers’ 56-42 win over New Hampshire on Nov. 12.
West, who leads NCAA FCS with 29 touchdowns scored, recorded at least two touchdowns in the final eight games of the year. He scored four touchdowns in three different games.
He is tied for third among college football players in all divisions with his 29 touchdowns. Junior running back Montee Ball of Wisconsin has scored 38 touchdowns in 13 games while junior Joe Glendening of Hillsdale tops Division II with 31 TD’s in ten games. Senior Rashaad Slowley of Southern Connecticut has also scored 29 TD’s in ten games.
West shattered the Towson University single season record for touchdowns scored with his 29 TD’s. He also broke the NCAA FCS record for freshmen with 29 touchdowns. In fact, his 29 touchdowns represent the third-highest single season total in FCS history, a mark that has been topped by Omar Cuff of Delaware (35, 2007) and Kevin Richardson of Appalachian State (30, 2006). West matched the 29 touchdowns scored by Jamaal Branch of Colgate in 2003.
West is one of the leading candidates for the Jerry Rice Award, which will be presented to the top freshman in NCAA FCS by The Sports Network/Fathead.com on Jan. 6.
In all, players from eight different conferences and 21 institutions were represented on the 2011 Walter Camp FCS All-America team. The Big Sky Conference had the most selections with eight players from six different schools, including three from 2010 FCS champion Eastern Washington. The Southern Conference had five selections while the Missouri Valley Conference had three. North Dakota State, which will play in the FCS Championship Game on January 7, had two All-America honorees.
