Cal Poly's Gocong, UNC's Doughty Honored by Walter Camp Foundation :: Two GWFC Football Players Named To All-America Team

Dec. 9, 2005

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For the second year in a row, Cal Poly defensive end Chris Gocong has been named to the Walter Camp Football Foundation Division I-AA All-America Team. Gocong was joined by Northern Colorado safety Reed Doughty. Gocong and Doughty were the only Great West Football Conference players named to the elite team.

The team is selected by the head coaches and sports information directors of the Division 1-AA football schools and certified by UHY Advisors, a New Haven-based accounting firm.

Gocong, a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award for the second straight year, is first in the nation in sacks per game (1.81), second in tackles for lost yardage (2.35 per game) and 23rd in forced fumbles (.31). He finished the 2005 season with 98 total tackles (46 solo), including a school-record 23.5 sacks and 31.0 tackles for lost yardage, leading the Mustangs to a 9-4 record, a second straight Great West Football Conference championship and the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

The 6-3, 265-pound senior was named Great West Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and has 42.0 career sacks, 1.5 sacks shy of the career mark set by Tom Carey (1985-88). He recovered a Montana State fumble in the end zone for his first career Mustang touchdown.

He finished the 2004 regular season as the nation's sacks leader in Division I-AA with 17.5 (1.59 sacks per contest) and was No. 2 in tackles for lost yardage with 21.5 (1.95 a game). Gocong recorded 71 total tackles as a junior and also notched one interception (Humboldt State), one punt block (North Dakota State) and two forced fumbles.

Doughty was one of four defensive backs to make the first-team. He joined Jay McCareins of Princeton, Shannon James of UMass and Tony LeZotte of James Madison as defensive backs selected to the squad.

Doughty, a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award (given to I-AA's top defensive player), capped a stellar career by leading all of I-AA in tackles in 2005, registering 159 stops (14.45/game) during the season, including a season-high 19 against 2005 NCAA Playoff participant Cal Poly.

Doughty had double-digit tackles in 10 of 11 games during the year and ranked in the top-10 in the Great West Football Conference in forced fumbles (3), fumbles recovered (3), passes defended (8) and interceptions (4). He capped his career by ranking third in school history in career tackles (466), fifth in career interceptions (14) and eighth in career fumbles recoveries (6).

The epitome of a student-athlete, Doughty compiled a perfect 4.0 gpa, was the top vote-getter on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American team in 2005 as well as one of 16 finalists for the 2005 Draddy Trophy (a.k.a. The Academic Heisman), for which he won an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship. He completed his degree in sports and exercise science and graduated on Dec. 10.

Doughty will participate in the All-American Classic All-Star Game to be held Jan. 14 in Las Vegas and then continuing training for the NFL Scouting Combine, to be held Feb. 22-28 in Indianapolis.

Brown University senior running back Nick Hartigan headlines the 2005 Walter Camp Football Foundation Division 1-AA All-America team. The Ivy League Player of the Year and a finalist for the Walter Payton Award which is given to the nation's top I-AA player, rushed for 1,727 yards and 20 touchdowns for the Ivy League champion Bears.

New Hampshire sophomore quarterback Ricky Santos, another Payton Award finalist, is one of three Wildcat players wide receiver David Ball and tight end Jonathan Williams to earn All-America honors.

Santos, the Atlantic-10 Offensive Player of the Year, passed for 3,797 yards and 39 touchdowns in 2005 to help lead UNH to the 1-AA quarterfinal round. Ball, one of three repeat Walter Camp All-America selections, set school records for receptions (87), receiving yards (1,551) and touchdowns (24). Williams, a big part of an UNH offense that averaged 41.7 points and 493.9 yards per game, caught 50 passes for 535 yards and five touchdowns.

The All-America defensive squad is led 10 players who are finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award, which is presently annually to the top defensive player in 1-AA. Besides Gocong, another top defensive honoree is repeat All-America selection Shannon James, a defensive back from Massachusetts.

In all, players from seven conferences and 18 institutions were represented on the 1-AA All-America team. The Atlantic-10 had the most players (9), followed by the Big Sky (4), MEAC and Southern Conference (3 each). The Great West, Gateway Conference and Ivy League all had two All-Americans.

Other Walter Camp Foundation All-Americans who played against Cal Poly this year were Montana State center Jeff Bolton, Idaho State placekicker Jaret Johnson and Idaho State defensive lineman Jeff Charleston.

Walter Camp, "The Father of American Football," first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp a former Yale University athlete and football coach is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation a New Haven based all-volunteer group was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting All-America teams for 1-A and 1-AA.