Eastern Michigan Athletics
Football Announces 2019 Award Winners
12/8/2019 3:56:00 PM | Football
The 2019 individual award nominees were honored at the 57th annual football banquet
Photo Gallery.
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University football team hosted its 57th annual football banquet Sunday, Dec. 8, at the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest. The banquet served as the celebration of the team's 2019 individual award winners, which were announced by members of the EMU football coaching staff.
Senior quarterback Mike Glass III (St. Louis, Mo.-Hazelwood Central-Southwestern College) was named the team's Most Valuable Player as well as the James M. "Bingo" Brown award recipient, given to the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player. Glass was electric on offense, racking up 3,203 yards of total offense (345 rushing, 2,858 passing) and 29 touchdowns. He led the MAC and ranks 17th nationally in total offense with 291.2 yards per contest. Glass finished the regular season ranked 14th in the FBS in completion percentage (67.8%), 18th in completions per game (21.64), 18th in points responsible for per game (16.0), and 24th in passing yards per game (259.8).
A Second Team All-MAC selection, Glass ranks fourth in total offense in a season in EMU's 128-year history and needs just 188 yards to pass Charlie Batch's mark of 3,390 that has stood since 1997. Also, Glass is 422 yards away from moving past Batch for the most passing yards in a single-season, while he needs two touchdown passes to surpass the two-time Super Bowl Champion's mark of 23 set in 1997. He is also just 23 passes short of tying Andy Schmitt for the most passes completed in a single year with 261.
Earning the team's John E. Borowiec Most Valuable Defensive Player award was senior defensive back Vince Calhoun (Middletown, Ohio-Middletown). The all-time leader in Eastern Michigan history with 48 career games started, Calhoun moved past 300 in his career with a nine tackle performance against Western Michigan, Oct. 19. He stands at 336 stops, which ranks 12th all-time at EMU. In 2019, Calhoun notched 97 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, two sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception for the EMU defense. In addition, he earned the team's Theme award as the player who best represented the team's 2019 motto of "Y>".
Just the seventh student-athlete in program history to collect All-MAC honors in three different seasons, Calhoun ranks ninth in the MAC and 55th in the NCAA with 8.1 tackles per game. He had four games with 10-or-more stops, including a 15 tackle contest in the three-point victory over the University of Illinois, Sept. 14. Furthermore, his 5.5 tackles-for-loss ranks fourth on the team, while his 2.0 sacks is tied for second-best.
The Special Teams Most Valuable Player honor went to senior long snapper Drake Sutton (Menomonee Falls, Wis.-Menomonee Falls). A critical force on special teams, Sutton has been EMU's long snapper in 37 consecutive games dating back to the 2016 season. In 2019 he was named to the Patrick Mannelly Long Snapper Award Watch List and to the Special Teams University All-American Watch List. In 2019, Eastern's special teams ranked third in the MAC in punting with 39.02 yards per kick while finishing the regular season 19th in punt returns with 12.77 yards a try.
Senior offensive lineman Steven Nielsen (Dragoer, Denmark-La Lumiere (Ind.) School) took home the Harold E. Sponberg Down Lineman Award. Nielsen has started 37 consecutive games for the EMU offensive line since the beginning of the 2017 season. In 2019, he helped Eastern's passing offense rank second in school-history with 3,370 yards passing and tie the program-record with 25 touchdown passes. Overall, the offense rolled up 4,883 total yards (fifth all-time at EMU) and 349 points (fourth all-time at EMU).
The E-Gridiron group's newcomers of the year honors went to junior tight end Bryson Cannon (Columbia, S.C.-Dutch Fork-Independence C.C.) for his offensive efforts and to freshman defensive back Kempton Shine (Chicago, Ill.-St. Rita) for his season performance on defense.
Cannon caught 20 passes for a total of 212 yards and two scores in 12 games this season for EMU. He averaged 10.6 yards per catch with touchdowns against Kentucky, Sept. 7, and Kent State, Nov. 29. Meanwhile, Shine notched seven tackles (5 solo, 2 assist) while playing in for games for Eastern. He picked up his first career start at Illinois, Sept. 14, as the Eagles defeated the Fighting Illini, 34-31.
Freshmen running back Josh McCarty (Troy, Mich.-Orchard Lake St. Mary's), defensive lineman Aaron Hamilton (Alpharetta, Ga.-Johns Creek), and defensive back Kendric Nowling (Chicago, Ill.-Marist) earned the team's Scout Team Player of the Year award for their efforts preparing the team for competition each week on offense, defense, and special teams, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Elton J. Rynearson Scholar Athlete Award was awarded to Mike VanHoeven (Paw Paw, Mich.-Paw Paw). It marked the second consecutive year, Van Hoeven was named to the 2019 Academic All-District® Football Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He joined Andrew Wellock (2005-06) and Jean Oliver Gagnon Gordillo (2004-05) as the only players in program history to collect the honor in multiple seasons. A master's student with a 3.95 GPA in exercise science, Van Hoeven started every game this year at center for the Eagles.
Completing the awards handed out by Head Coach Chris Creighton and his staff was the Torchbearer Leader Award, given to senior running back Shaq Vann (South Bend, Ind.-John Adams). A three-time captain, Vann is just the seventh running back in program-history to surpass 2,500 yards rushing with 2,529 yards in 43 career games. Overall, his 505 all-time carries rank sixth at EMU and he needs two carries to pass Alex Gillett (2009-12) for the next spot on the career rushing attempts list. Meanwhile, his 24 career touchdowns (23 rushing, 1 receiving) are one shy of Kery Keating (1954-57) for sixth.
Vann turned in one of his best performance in the 42-14 victory over Akron, Nov. 12. The South Bend, Ind. native used 28 rushing attempts to compile 142 yards on the ground and four rushing TDs. His 142 single-game rushing yards is the second-best of his career, just behind a 156-yard, two touchdown performance against Mississippi Valley State, Sept. 2, 2016. With his fourth rushing score, Vann became the first Eagle to rush for four touchdowns since the 2012 season, when Bronson Hill hit that number against Toledo, Oct. 13. Additionally, Vann is best among MAC running backs with 277 carries without a fumble. His last rushing miscue came versus Bowling Green, Nov. 21, 2017.
The Eastern Michigan careers of 22 program-defining student-athletes were honored at the event: Thad Abram (Woodhaven, Mich.-Woodhaven), Hunter Andrews (Metamora, Mich.-Lapeer), Kobie Beltram (Antioch, Calif.-Antioch-City College of San Francisco), Kymani Brown (Sugar Hill, Ga.-Lanier), Eddie Daugherty IV (Mentor, Ohio-Mentor), Sam Dervil (Miami, Fla.-Miami Northwestern-Coffeyville C.C.), Tre'Shown Fields (Grand Rapids, Mich.-East Grand Rapids-Grand Rapids C.C.), Brody Hoying (Coldwater, Ohio-Coldwater), Arthur Jackson III (Oakland, Calif.-Wood-American River College), Desmond Kelly (Baltimore, Md.-Overlea-Dodge City C.C.), Bryce Kemp (Baxter, Iowa-Baxter Community School), Line Latu (San Mateo, Calif.-San Mateo-College of San Mateo), Kevin McGill (Waldorf, Md.-Westlake), Yannik Rohrschneider (Hilden, Germany-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Gymnasium), Mathew Sexton (Clinton, Mich.-Clinton), Shawn Simeon (Miami, Fla.-Central-Coffeyville C.C.), and Breck Turner (Norwalk, Ohio-Norwalk) as well as the previously mentioned Calhoun, Glass, Nielsen, Sutton, and Vann.
Eastern Michigan wrapped up the regular season with a 6-6 record to become bowl eligible for the third time in four years and continues one of the best four-year stretches in program history. Eastern's 25 wins over the past four years are the most since the team won 29 from 1986-89, and its just two victories shy of the program's cumulative total from 2000-10.
The Eagles are 10-4 in the month of November the last four years. In the four seasons prior, Eastern combined for a total of seven wins during the entire 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 campaigns.
Eastern was the only MAC team to boast a victory over a Power 5 Conference opponent in 2019. EMU walked off Illinois with a 24-yard field goal as time expired, Sept. 14, 2019. It was the third consecutive season that Eastern knocked off a Big Ten Conference opponent (2017 - Rutgers, 2018 - Purdue).
Overall, all but one of EMU's 12 opponents won five-or-more games in 2019 with seven of them being bowl eligible. Furthermore, EMU was one of just 11 FBS teams to have played in at least seven one-score games this season. EMU played the fourth-most single possession contests, as only North Carolina (9), Miami (Fla.) (8), and Pittsburgh (8) played in more games that went down to the wire.
In total, Eastern Michigan tallied a total of 95 game, season or career entries into the program's record books in 2019.
Defensively, Hoying ranks fourth nationally with four interceptions in 2019, while Beltram ranks 17th with 9.7 tackles per game and 21st in forced fumbles with 0.25 per contest. EMU also finished the regular season among the nation's best in both fewest penalties and fewest penalty yards per game. EMU's 56 total penalties ranks 11th-nationally, while its 40.92 penalty yards per game is 13th-best in the country.
Eastern Michigan University 2019 Football Awards
Team MVP
Mike Glass III
James M. "Bingo" Brown Most Valuable Offensive Player Award
Mike Glass III
John E. Borowiec Most Valuable Defensive Player Award
Vince Calhoun
Special Teams MVP Award
Drake Sutton
Elton J. Rynearson Scholar-Athlete Award
Mike VanHoeven
Harold E. Sponberg Lineman Award
Steven Nielsen
E-Gridiron Group Offensive Newcomer of the Year
Bryson Cannon
E-Gridiron Group Defensive Newcomers of the Year
Kempton Shine
Scout Team Player of the Year
OFFENSE: Josh McCarty
DEFENSE: Aaron Hamilton
SPECIAL TEAMS: Kendric Nowling
Hammer Award
Offense - Willie Parker
Defense - Shawn Simeon
Special Teams - Mathew Sexton
Helmet Stickers Winner
Blake Bogan
Theme Award - "Y>"
Vince Calhoun
Committed to Excellence Award
Kobie Beltram
Team Player Award "Game Ball"
Mike Smith Jr.
Torch Bearer Leader Award
Shaq Vann
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University football team hosted its 57th annual football banquet Sunday, Dec. 8, at the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest. The banquet served as the celebration of the team's 2019 individual award winners, which were announced by members of the EMU football coaching staff.
Senior quarterback Mike Glass III (St. Louis, Mo.-Hazelwood Central-Southwestern College) was named the team's Most Valuable Player as well as the James M. "Bingo" Brown award recipient, given to the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player. Glass was electric on offense, racking up 3,203 yards of total offense (345 rushing, 2,858 passing) and 29 touchdowns. He led the MAC and ranks 17th nationally in total offense with 291.2 yards per contest. Glass finished the regular season ranked 14th in the FBS in completion percentage (67.8%), 18th in completions per game (21.64), 18th in points responsible for per game (16.0), and 24th in passing yards per game (259.8).
A Second Team All-MAC selection, Glass ranks fourth in total offense in a season in EMU's 128-year history and needs just 188 yards to pass Charlie Batch's mark of 3,390 that has stood since 1997. Also, Glass is 422 yards away from moving past Batch for the most passing yards in a single-season, while he needs two touchdown passes to surpass the two-time Super Bowl Champion's mark of 23 set in 1997. He is also just 23 passes short of tying Andy Schmitt for the most passes completed in a single year with 261.
Earning the team's John E. Borowiec Most Valuable Defensive Player award was senior defensive back Vince Calhoun (Middletown, Ohio-Middletown). The all-time leader in Eastern Michigan history with 48 career games started, Calhoun moved past 300 in his career with a nine tackle performance against Western Michigan, Oct. 19. He stands at 336 stops, which ranks 12th all-time at EMU. In 2019, Calhoun notched 97 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, two sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception for the EMU defense. In addition, he earned the team's Theme award as the player who best represented the team's 2019 motto of "Y>".
Just the seventh student-athlete in program history to collect All-MAC honors in three different seasons, Calhoun ranks ninth in the MAC and 55th in the NCAA with 8.1 tackles per game. He had four games with 10-or-more stops, including a 15 tackle contest in the three-point victory over the University of Illinois, Sept. 14. Furthermore, his 5.5 tackles-for-loss ranks fourth on the team, while his 2.0 sacks is tied for second-best.
The Special Teams Most Valuable Player honor went to senior long snapper Drake Sutton (Menomonee Falls, Wis.-Menomonee Falls). A critical force on special teams, Sutton has been EMU's long snapper in 37 consecutive games dating back to the 2016 season. In 2019 he was named to the Patrick Mannelly Long Snapper Award Watch List and to the Special Teams University All-American Watch List. In 2019, Eastern's special teams ranked third in the MAC in punting with 39.02 yards per kick while finishing the regular season 19th in punt returns with 12.77 yards a try.
Senior offensive lineman Steven Nielsen (Dragoer, Denmark-La Lumiere (Ind.) School) took home the Harold E. Sponberg Down Lineman Award. Nielsen has started 37 consecutive games for the EMU offensive line since the beginning of the 2017 season. In 2019, he helped Eastern's passing offense rank second in school-history with 3,370 yards passing and tie the program-record with 25 touchdown passes. Overall, the offense rolled up 4,883 total yards (fifth all-time at EMU) and 349 points (fourth all-time at EMU).
The E-Gridiron group's newcomers of the year honors went to junior tight end Bryson Cannon (Columbia, S.C.-Dutch Fork-Independence C.C.) for his offensive efforts and to freshman defensive back Kempton Shine (Chicago, Ill.-St. Rita) for his season performance on defense.
Cannon caught 20 passes for a total of 212 yards and two scores in 12 games this season for EMU. He averaged 10.6 yards per catch with touchdowns against Kentucky, Sept. 7, and Kent State, Nov. 29. Meanwhile, Shine notched seven tackles (5 solo, 2 assist) while playing in for games for Eastern. He picked up his first career start at Illinois, Sept. 14, as the Eagles defeated the Fighting Illini, 34-31.
Freshmen running back Josh McCarty (Troy, Mich.-Orchard Lake St. Mary's), defensive lineman Aaron Hamilton (Alpharetta, Ga.-Johns Creek), and defensive back Kendric Nowling (Chicago, Ill.-Marist) earned the team's Scout Team Player of the Year award for their efforts preparing the team for competition each week on offense, defense, and special teams, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Elton J. Rynearson Scholar Athlete Award was awarded to Mike VanHoeven (Paw Paw, Mich.-Paw Paw). It marked the second consecutive year, Van Hoeven was named to the 2019 Academic All-District® Football Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He joined Andrew Wellock (2005-06) and Jean Oliver Gagnon Gordillo (2004-05) as the only players in program history to collect the honor in multiple seasons. A master's student with a 3.95 GPA in exercise science, Van Hoeven started every game this year at center for the Eagles.
Completing the awards handed out by Head Coach Chris Creighton and his staff was the Torchbearer Leader Award, given to senior running back Shaq Vann (South Bend, Ind.-John Adams). A three-time captain, Vann is just the seventh running back in program-history to surpass 2,500 yards rushing with 2,529 yards in 43 career games. Overall, his 505 all-time carries rank sixth at EMU and he needs two carries to pass Alex Gillett (2009-12) for the next spot on the career rushing attempts list. Meanwhile, his 24 career touchdowns (23 rushing, 1 receiving) are one shy of Kery Keating (1954-57) for sixth.
Vann turned in one of his best performance in the 42-14 victory over Akron, Nov. 12. The South Bend, Ind. native used 28 rushing attempts to compile 142 yards on the ground and four rushing TDs. His 142 single-game rushing yards is the second-best of his career, just behind a 156-yard, two touchdown performance against Mississippi Valley State, Sept. 2, 2016. With his fourth rushing score, Vann became the first Eagle to rush for four touchdowns since the 2012 season, when Bronson Hill hit that number against Toledo, Oct. 13. Additionally, Vann is best among MAC running backs with 277 carries without a fumble. His last rushing miscue came versus Bowling Green, Nov. 21, 2017.
The Eastern Michigan careers of 22 program-defining student-athletes were honored at the event: Thad Abram (Woodhaven, Mich.-Woodhaven), Hunter Andrews (Metamora, Mich.-Lapeer), Kobie Beltram (Antioch, Calif.-Antioch-City College of San Francisco), Kymani Brown (Sugar Hill, Ga.-Lanier), Eddie Daugherty IV (Mentor, Ohio-Mentor), Sam Dervil (Miami, Fla.-Miami Northwestern-Coffeyville C.C.), Tre'Shown Fields (Grand Rapids, Mich.-East Grand Rapids-Grand Rapids C.C.), Brody Hoying (Coldwater, Ohio-Coldwater), Arthur Jackson III (Oakland, Calif.-Wood-American River College), Desmond Kelly (Baltimore, Md.-Overlea-Dodge City C.C.), Bryce Kemp (Baxter, Iowa-Baxter Community School), Line Latu (San Mateo, Calif.-San Mateo-College of San Mateo), Kevin McGill (Waldorf, Md.-Westlake), Yannik Rohrschneider (Hilden, Germany-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Gymnasium), Mathew Sexton (Clinton, Mich.-Clinton), Shawn Simeon (Miami, Fla.-Central-Coffeyville C.C.), and Breck Turner (Norwalk, Ohio-Norwalk) as well as the previously mentioned Calhoun, Glass, Nielsen, Sutton, and Vann.
Eastern Michigan wrapped up the regular season with a 6-6 record to become bowl eligible for the third time in four years and continues one of the best four-year stretches in program history. Eastern's 25 wins over the past four years are the most since the team won 29 from 1986-89, and its just two victories shy of the program's cumulative total from 2000-10.
The Eagles are 10-4 in the month of November the last four years. In the four seasons prior, Eastern combined for a total of seven wins during the entire 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 campaigns.
Eastern was the only MAC team to boast a victory over a Power 5 Conference opponent in 2019. EMU walked off Illinois with a 24-yard field goal as time expired, Sept. 14, 2019. It was the third consecutive season that Eastern knocked off a Big Ten Conference opponent (2017 - Rutgers, 2018 - Purdue).
Overall, all but one of EMU's 12 opponents won five-or-more games in 2019 with seven of them being bowl eligible. Furthermore, EMU was one of just 11 FBS teams to have played in at least seven one-score games this season. EMU played the fourth-most single possession contests, as only North Carolina (9), Miami (Fla.) (8), and Pittsburgh (8) played in more games that went down to the wire.
In total, Eastern Michigan tallied a total of 95 game, season or career entries into the program's record books in 2019.
Defensively, Hoying ranks fourth nationally with four interceptions in 2019, while Beltram ranks 17th with 9.7 tackles per game and 21st in forced fumbles with 0.25 per contest. EMU also finished the regular season among the nation's best in both fewest penalties and fewest penalty yards per game. EMU's 56 total penalties ranks 11th-nationally, while its 40.92 penalty yards per game is 13th-best in the country.
Eastern Michigan University 2019 Football Awards
Team MVP
Mike Glass III
James M. "Bingo" Brown Most Valuable Offensive Player Award
Mike Glass III
John E. Borowiec Most Valuable Defensive Player Award
Vince Calhoun
Special Teams MVP Award
Drake Sutton
Elton J. Rynearson Scholar-Athlete Award
Mike VanHoeven
Harold E. Sponberg Lineman Award
Steven Nielsen
E-Gridiron Group Offensive Newcomer of the Year
Bryson Cannon
E-Gridiron Group Defensive Newcomers of the Year
Kempton Shine
Scout Team Player of the Year
OFFENSE: Josh McCarty
DEFENSE: Aaron Hamilton
SPECIAL TEAMS: Kendric Nowling
Hammer Award
Offense - Willie Parker
Defense - Shawn Simeon
Special Teams - Mathew Sexton
Helmet Stickers Winner
Blake Bogan
Theme Award - "Y>"
Vince Calhoun
Committed to Excellence Award
Kobie Beltram
Team Player Award "Game Ball"
Mike Smith Jr.
Torch Bearer Leader Award
Shaq Vann
Players Mentioned
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