Bulls Football Earning Post-Season Honors

Gill named Sporting News MAC Coach of Year; five Bulls honored by Phil Steele Magazine

James Starks

BUFFALO, NY – Its post-season football awards season and fresh off their first Mid-American Championship, the Buffalo football team is starting to earn kudos from around the country.

Rivals.com, Phil Steele Magazine and The Sporting News cited Bulls players for major awards. TSN, which has yet to release its Freshman and regular All-American teams, did tab each conference's players and coach of the year today, with Buffalo's Turner Gill earning MAC Coach of the Year honors.

Gill led the Bulls to the MAC East title for the second straight year, this time the outright title and a berth in the MAC Championship game. In the MAC title game, the Bulls upset undefeated and 12th-ranked Ball State, 42-24, at Ford Field in Detroit to claim their first conference championship in school history.

Gill joins the magazine's other conference coach of the year selections: ACC – Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech; Big East – Brian Kelly, Cincinnati; Big Ten – Joe Paterno, Penn State; Big 12 – Mike Leach, Texas Tech; Conference USA – Skip Holtz, East Carolina; Mountain West – Kyle Whittingham, Utah; SEC – Nick Saban, Alabama; Sun Belt – Mario Cristobal, Florida International; WAC – Chris Petersen, Boise State.

Naaman Roosevelt

Meanwhile, the Bulls had five players earn first or second team honors in Phil Steele's 2008 All-MAC teams. Tailback James Starks, flanker Naaman Roosevelt and offensive guard Jeff Niedermier all earned first-team honors on offense. Niedermier is part of an offensive line that allowed Starks, Roosevelt and quarterback Drew Willy to all set new single-season records in Buffalo's football history. Niedermier, an offensive co-captain, has helped UB set a school record with 404 points score. The three first-team players were also named to the Rivals.com All-MAC Team.

Starks, who is already the school's career rushing leader, has 1,308 rushing yards this season and 16 touchdowns to pace the Bulls. He ranks eighth in the nation in rushing yards per game (118.9) and has seven 100-yard games this season.

Roosevelt is also rewriting much of the receiving section of the record book. Roosevelt has 96 receptions for 1,312 yards and 13 touchdowns – all three figures are school records for a single season. Roosevelt ranks seventh in the nation in receptions per game and eight in receiving yards per game (100.9 ypg). He has gone over 100 yards receiving in five straight games and seven overall.

Jeff Niedermier

Earning second-team honors on defense are sophomores Justin Winters, a linebacker and Davonte Shannon, a strong safety.

Winters leads the Bulls with 117 tackles and has added 7.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, an interception, four pass breakups and three forced fumbles in a breakout season. A walk-on, Winters has come into his own this season, starting all 13 games, record 10 tackles or more six times this year.

Shannon, meanwhile, has recorded over 100 tackles for his second straight year, racking up 106 stops (60 solos) this season. Shannon has added five tackles for loss, an interception, four pass breakups, two quarterbacks hurries, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble.