Six Rockets Earn All-MAC Honors

Six Rocket football players have made the 2009 All-MAC squad that was released earlier today. Of the six, four are seniors in Barry Church, Stephen Williams, Alex Steigerwald, and DaJuane Collins. The two underclassmen joining those four on the All-MAC squad are junior Archie Donald and true freshman Eric Page.

Barry Church became the first Rocket and their player in MAC history to earn First Team All-MAC honors four consecutive seasons, when the 2009 All-MAC Team was announced earlier today.

Joining Church on First Team All-MAC is wide receiver Stephen Williams. True freshman receiver Eric Page was named Second Team All-MAC, while running back DaJuane Collins, kicker Alex Steigerwald, and linebacker Archie Donald were named to the Third Team All-MAC list.

True freshman Eric Page led all freshman receivers with 82 receptions for 1,159 yards. This was also good enough to be Top Ten in the nation, regardless of class. However, it was not enough to put him on the All-MAC First Team for some reason.

Page also lost out on the Freshman of the Year award to Temple running back Bernard Pierce. Those snubs will just be additional motivation for the young Eric Page going into the 2010 season.

Junior linebacker Archie Donald also seemed to get snubbed a bit despite being named Third Team All-MAC. Donald finished the season with 116 tackles, leading the Rockets and finishing third overall in tackles in the Mid-American Conference. Yet four other linebackers were recognized ahead of Donald.

Congratulations to the four Rocket seniors making the All-MAC squad (Church, S. Williams, Steigerwald, and Collins) and the two underclassmen (Page and Donald).