KALAMAZOO, Mich. - For the second year in a row, Western Michigan football has garnered more than 10 selections on the All-Mid-American Conference Football Team. This season, WMU has the second-most selections in the conference with 12 overall as three Broncos earned first team honors. Jamarko Simmons earns First Team All-MAC Offense for the second year in a row, while Louis Delmas and Austin Pritchard have earned First Team All-MAC Defense for the first time in their careers.
Western Michigan garnered four second team selections and five third team selections. Branden Ledbetter was named Second Team All-MAC Offense for the second time in his career, and first since 2006, while E.J. Biggers, Zach Davidson and Londen Fryar each earned Second Team All-MAC Defense. Tim Hiller headlines the group of Broncos who garnered third team honors, followed by Juan Nunez, Phillip Swanson and Brandon West on offense and Boston McCornell on defense. WMU has at least one selection in every offensive and defensive positional category.
Simmons (Flint, Mich./Flint Central HS) is cementing his legacy in Western Michigan football with another break out season at wide receiver, joining Greg Jennings, Tony Knox and Steve Neal as the only WMU receivers to ever earn First Team All-MAC in back-to-back seasons. Simmons leads the MAC in receptions with a school record-tying 98 and is second in receiving yards with 1,184. He has already eclipsed Jennings' career record for receptions and stands at the top with 248. He is just 76 yards from breaking the single-season record for receiving yards.
Delmas (North Miami Beach, Fla./North Miami Beach HS) follows up Second Team All-MAC Defense selections in 2005 and 2007 with the first, first team nod of his career. Delmas was the leader on the defensive side of the ball, leading the team with 100 tackles through 12 games. He is the first Bronco to have 100 or more stops since Jason Babin (115) and Kevin Ford (111) both accomplished the feat in 2003. Delmas opened the season with three-straight games of 10 or more tackles, currently leading the team with five such games, and three interceptions. He registered his first pick-six against Idaho and leads the Broncos with four interceptions.
After spending much of his 2007 season on the sideline due to injury, Pritchard (Lebaonon, Ohio/Lebanon HS) bounced back with a career year in 2008. He is second on the team with a career-best 81 tackles and leads the team with 12.5 tackles for loss. Pritchard's season was highlighted statistically by a pair of games with 10 or more tackles, finishing the Central Michigan game with 17 stops and the Ball State game with 11 tackles.
Despite missing the last two games of the season due to injury, Ledbetter (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas HS) is leaving his mark as one of the best tight ends in Bronco history. He is the only tight end to have three seasons with six touchdown receptions and he is only the fourth receiver to have 20 or more career touchdowns. He finishes with the third-most receptions by a tight end (130) and second-most yards (1,507).
Biggers (North Miami Beach, Fla./North Miami Beach HS), Davidson (Racine, Wis./Washington Park HS) and Fryar (Jobstown, N.J./Holy Cross HS) combined for 146 tackles in 2008, ranking sixth, seventh and ninth on the team, respectively. Fryar had interceptions in back-to-back games to go along with a career-best 54 tackles and WMU's first blocked kick since 2006. Davidson tied for second on the team in tackles for loss (9.5) and sacks (3.5), while Fryar again led the team in pass break ups (5) and had an interception in the Broncos' win over Illinois. This is the third season in a row that Fryar has earned All-MAC since converting from wide receiver after the 2005 campaign.
Hiller (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville HS) has had one of the best seasons by a quarterback in Western Michigan history, setting single-season records for pass attempts (480) and completions (320). Both marks rank in the top 10 in a season in the MAC as well. He has tied the WMU single-season mark for touchdown passes (34) and is 113 yards from breaking the record for passing yards in a season. Earlier this season, Hiller broke the school record for passing attempts (63), completions (42) and yards (471) in a game, laying claim to stadium records at two different venues in the process. He finished the regular season leading the MAC in passing completions, attempts, yards, yards per game and touchdowns.
Swanson (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS) continues to lead the offensive line in just his sophomore year. He has started every game this season, extending his streak to 24 games, and leads the team with 880 offensive snaps on the year. He has secured Hiller's blind side for most of the year, working half the season at left guard and the other half at left tackle. He was recently named Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America.
Nunez (Miami, Fla./Miami Carol HS) earns the first All-MAC honor of his career with his third team selection. The sophomore broke out for 55 receptions for 661 yards. He matched Simmons' mark of seven receiving touchdowns as Nunez was one of three Bronco receivers to surpass the 50-catch mark this season. West (Brunswick, Ga./Camden County HS) earns All-MAC Offense for the second-straight season as he is once again WMU's all-purpose yardage leader. He is 30 yards from becoming the 15th Bronco to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Earlier this year West set new records for career all-purpose yards, kick return yards and kick returns. Defensively, McCornell's (Macon, Ga./Georgia Military College) All-MAC nod is his second in as many seasons after transferring from Georgia Military College prior to the 2007 season. He ranks third on the team in tackles (67) to go along with 3.5 tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and his second interception in as many seasons.
Western Michigan finished the regular season with nine wins for the third time in program history. Its four-year win total of 29 games is the second-best four-year stretch ever and the Broncos went undefeated in home games (6-0), finishing an unblemished Waldo Stadium schedule for the 10th time in program history and second under head coach Bill Cubit.
