Eastern Michigan Athletics
2010 Football Roster
Sep 20 (Sat)
3:30 p.m.
Roster
Ben Thayer
- Position:
- TE
- Class:
- Senior
- Hometown:
- Kalamazoo, Mich.
- High School:
- Hackett Catholic Central
PERSONAL: Full name: Benjamin Michael Thayer...Son of David and Rachel Thayer...Born 5-24-88...Education major...Father, David, earned his bachelor’s degree at Aquinas College, his master’s at EMU and his doctorate at Indiana State University in psychology...Mother, Rachel, graduated from Aquinas College where she was a track standout...Has four brothers, Jake, Zach, Nick and Dan...EMU: Has earned letters the last two seasons...Has played in 36 games, starting 14 times during his career...Has hauled in two touchdown passes, both in the 2009 season...Named to the 2010 preseason second-team All-Mid-American Conference squad by Phil Steele's Magazine for 2010...2009: Played in all 12 games at tight end, starting in 10 contests, missing only the Temple (Oct. 3) and the Kent State games (Oct. 17) as a starter...Grabbed two touchdown passes on the season in back-to-back games, with a three-yard scoring aerial from quarterback Kyle McMahon at home against Ball State (Oct. 24) and an eight yarder from McMahon at Arkansas (Oct. 31)...Had a career-best seven receptions for 66 yards at home against Temple (Oct. 3) and had two games with four catches, at Michigan (Sept. 19) and at home against Kent State...Caught passes in the first 11 games of the season...Named first-team Academic All-MAC with a 3.66 gpa as a math-secondary education major...Was the recipient of the Elton J. Rynearson Award as EMU's top scholar-athlete...2008: Earned his first letter after playing in all 12 games, with four starts...Was the starting tight end in the Indiana State (Aug. 28), Akron (Oct. 18), Ball State (Oct. 25) and Temple (Nov. 22) games...Had six catches for 113 yards during the year...Had two receptions for 51 yards with a career-long 27-yard catch in the season opener against Indiana State...2007: Did not play in any games and moved to tight end for 2008 spring drills...EMU: 2006: Was a preferred walk-on to the squad...Redshirted and did not play in any games but practiced with the team all season...Threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Michael Graham in the 2007 Spring Game...Chosen by the coaching staff as one of the two Practice Players of the Week twice, for the Louisiana Lafayette (Sept. 30) and the Bowling Green (Oct. 14) games...HIGH SCHOOL: Graduated from Hackett Central Catholic H.S. in Kalamazoo, Mich. where he played football for Head Coach Jim Coady...Named to the Academic Honor Roll four years in a row and was a member of the National Honor Society, serving as president in his senior year...Named the Detroit Free Press Scholar-Athlete of the Year as a senior...B’Nai Brith Male Scholar-Athlete...The recipient of the Stanley E. Rubleski Award as the Outstanding Male Scholar-Athlete...Student Council treasurer as a senior...Senior Year: All-State honorable mention quarterback by The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press...First-team All-Conference and team MVP...Passed for 1,420 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 825 yards and 14 touchdowns...Captain of the basketball team and was an all-state honorable mention pick...First-team All-Conference and team MVP in basketball...Captain of the track team and was a state qualifier on the 4x200-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams...Also played outfield in baseball...Junior Year: Recipient of the Best Underclassman Award...First-team All-Conference and team MVP in basketball...Also earned a baseball letter...Sophomore Year: Starting tight end on the football team and also earned a starting berth in basketball as well as a varsity track letter.
