Brown’s Emory Polley Named To All-America Team
Monday, December 23, 2013
Brown University senior defensive back Emory Polley was named to the American Football Coaches Association's 2013 FCS Coaches' All-America Team today. It is the second straight season that Brown has had a player named to that team with fellow defensive back A. J. Cruz receiving the same honor a year ago.
Polley led FCS football in interceptions per game (.6) with an Ivy League-leading 6 interceptions in 10 games this year for the Bears. He intercepted 4 passes as a junior and his 11 career interceptions ranks 6th all-time in the Brown Football record books.
Polley was one of only two Ivy League players to be named to the All-America team. Harvard's Zach Hodges (DE) was the other. Hodges was named the Ivy League's Defensive Player of the Year as well.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe 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.
Here's a look at this year's team:
2013 AFCA Football Championship Subdivision Coaches’ All-America Team
Offense
Pos. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. School Coach Hometown (High School)
WR Cooper Kupp 6-2 195 Fr. Eastern Washington Beau Baldwin Yakima, Wash. (Davis)
WR *Erik Lora 5-11 190 Sr. Eastern Illinois Dino Babers Miami, Fla. (Columbus)
TE MyCole Pruitt 6-3 250 Jr. Southern Illinois Dale Lennon St. Louis, Mo. (Kirkwood)
OL Eric Pike 6-5 298 Sr. Towson Rob Ambrose Landover, Md. (DuVal)
OL Dakota Dozier 6-5 303 Sr. Furman Bruce Fowler West Columbia, S.C. (Brookland-Cayce)
C Jared Singleton 6-2 309 Sr. Wofford Mike Ayers Lugoff, S.C. (Lugoff-Elgin)
OL Billy Turner 6-6 314 Sr. North Dakota State Craig Bohl Shoreview, Minn. (Mounds View)
OL Danny Kistler, Jr. 6-8 315 Sr. Montana Mick Delaney Seattle, Wash. (O’Dea)
QB Jimmy Garoppolo 6-3 222 Sr. Eastern Illinois Dino Babers Arlington Heights, Ill. (Rolling Meadows)
RB Terrance West 5-11 223 Jr. Towson Rob Ambrose Baltimore, Md. (Northwestern)
RB *Zach Zenner 6-0 220 Jr. South Dakota St. John Stiegelmeier Eagan, Minn. (Eagan)
Defense
Pos. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. School Coach Hometown (High School)
DL Zach Hodges 6-3 235 Jr. Harvard Tim Murphy Atlanta, Ga. (Philips Exeter Academy)
DL *Davis Tull 6-3 240 Jr. Tennessee-Chattanooga Russ Huesman Knoxville, Tenn. (Bearden)
DL Colton Underwood 6-4 255 Sr. Illinois St. Brock Spack Washington, Ill. (Washington)
DL Brad Daly 6-1 240 Sr. Montana St. Rob Ash Helena, Mont. (Capital)
LB Jordan Tripp 6-3 237 Sr. Montana Mick Delaney Missoula, Mont. (Big Sky)
LB Stephon Robertson 5-11 230 Sr. James Madison Mickey Matthews Alexandria, Va. (Edison)
LB Cqulin Hubert 6-1 250 Sr. Southeastern Louisiana Ron Roberts Houston, Texas (Eisenhower)
DB Emory Polley 5-9 175 Sr. Brown Phil Estes University Heights, Ohio (Cleveland Heights)
DB T.J. Lee III 5-9 190 Sr. Eastern Washington Beau Baldwin Seattle, Wash. (West Seattle)
DB *Marcus Williams 5-11 192 Sr. North Dakota St. Craig Bohl Minneapolis, Minn. (Hopkins)
DB Daniel Fitzpatrick 6-2 210 Jr. Tennessee St. Rod Reed Ft. Wayne, Ind. (Concordia Lutheran)
Specialists
Pos. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. School Coach Hometown (High School)
P Kyle Loomis 6-2 210 Jr. Portland St. Nigel Burton Roseburg, Ore. (Roseburg)
PK Tyler Sievertsen 6-2 185 Sr. Northern Iowa Mark Farley Cedar Rapids, Iowa (C.R. Kennedy)
AP Fabian Truss 5-9 185 Sr. Samford Pat Sullivan Birmingham, Ala. (Shades Valley)
*-2012 All-American
Team Background: The AFCA has selected 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. From 1945 until 1967, only one team was chosen. From 1967 through 1971, two teams, University Division and College Division, were selected. In 1972, the College Division was split into College I and College II. In 1979, the University Division was split into two teams — Division I-A and Division I-AA. In 1996, the College I and College II teams were renamed Division II and Division III, respectively. In 2006, the Division I-A and Division I-AA teams were renamed Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), respectively. In 2006, the AFCA started selecting an NAIA-only team.
From 1965-81, a 22-player (11 offensive, 11 defensive) team was chosen. In 1982, a punter and placekicker were added to the team. In 1997, a return specialist was added, giving us the current 25-player team. The return specialist position was replaced by an all-purpose player in 2006.
Top Teams: Eastern Kentucky has been represented a total of 23 times by 21 players on the AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team since 1979. The Colonels are followed by Appalachian State (23/17), Montana (23/22), Delaware (20/17), Eastern Washington (19/18), Furman (19/18), Northern Iowa (19/16), Georgia Southern (17/13), Lehigh (15/15), Portland State (15/15), Youngstown State (15/14), Grambling State (14/13), Stephen F. Austin (14/13), Eastern Illinois (14/12), New Hampshire (14/12), Jackson State (13/12), Weber State (13/12), Montana State (12/12) and James Madison (11/11) among current FCS schools.
Top Conference: The Colonial Athletic Association (formerly Atlantic 10) (122 appearances/112 players) is tops among all FCS conferences on the AFCA FCS Coaches All-America Team since 1979. Following the CAA is the Southern (111 appearances/97 players), Missouri Valley Football (formerly Gateway) (90/82), Big Sky (87/85), Ohio Valley (65/60), Southland (62/57), Southwestern Athletic (54/52), Patriot (48/47), Ivy League (33/33), Mid-Eastern Athletic (30/28), Northeast (15/13), Pioneer (13/13) and Big South (9/9). These totals reflect FCS selections only from current conference members. Several schools had additional players chosen when they played in divisions other than FCS.
2013 Conference-by-Conference Breakdown: Big Sky – 6; Missouri Valley – 6; Southern – 4; Colonial – 3; Ohio Valley – 3; Ivy – 2; Southland – 1.
Consecutive Years: Eastern Kentucky leads all schools, having had at least one player named to the AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team in each of the first 15 years a FCS team was chosen (1979-93). Eastern Washington has the longest current streak at six straight years from 2008 to present.
Long Time Coming: Senior linebacker Cqulin Hubert makes the AFCA FCS All-America Team for Southeastern Louisiana, marking the first time the Lions’ have had a representative since 1985, when defensive lineman Willie Shepard made the team.
Repeat After Me: Eastern Illinois’ Erik Lora, South Dakota State’s Zach Zenner, Tennessee-Chattanooga’s Davis Tull and North Dakota State’s Marcus Williams were elected to the AFCA FCS All-American Team for the second consecutive year.
Linebackers Gary Reasons of Northwestern State (La.) (1981-83) and Dexter Coakley of Appalachian State (1994-96) are the only three-time AFCA All-Americans in Football Championship Subdivision.
Yearly Leaders: Alabama State (2012-OL Terren Jones, DB Kejuan Riley and P Bobby Wenzig) joins Grambling State (1979-DL Joe Gordon, LB Aldrich Allen and DB Robert Salters) and Jackson State (1996-QB Grailyn Pratt, LB Otha Evans and DB Sean Woodson) as the only schools to have more than two players named to the AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team in one year.
Two Players, Two Schools: Punter Mark Bounds and placekicker Greg Zuerlein are the only players to earn Coaches’ All-America honors at two different schools. Bounds was named to the AFCA College Division I team in 1990 while playing for West Texas A&M. He transferred to Texas Tech after West Texas dropped football and earned I-A All-America honors as a Red Raider in 1991. Zuerlein was named to the Division II Coaches’ All-America Team in 2009 while playing for Nebraska-Omaha. He transferred to Missouri Western State after Nebraska-Omaha dropped its football program and earned Division II honors in 2011 as a Griffon.
Class Distinction: This year’s AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team is made up of 17 seniors, seven juniors and one freshman.
