Six Ferris State Football Standouts Honored As Football Gazette Unveils All-America Squads

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Big Rapids, Mich. - The 2017 campaign may have well passed, but the Ferris State University football squad is still earning recognition after reaching the NCAA Division II National Quarterfinals for the second consecutive campaign last fall.

The Don Hansen Football Committee recently released the 2017 Don Hansen NCAA Division II All-America Team and the Bulldogs had six individuals honored as Football Gazette All-America picks. The six total choices were among the most in the country.

Included on the list were a pair of first-team All-America selections in junior defensive end Zach Sieler (Pinckney) and junior offensive guard Nic Sawyer (Ann Arbor) along with a trio of third-team All-America choices in junior offensive tackle Devon Johnson (Aurora, Ill.), senior defensive tackle Chris Okoye (Novi) and senior cornerback Tavierre Thomas (Detroit/Allen). The Bulldogs also had an honorable mention All-America honoree in senior center Jake Daugherty (Big Rapids).

The selections of Sawyer, Johnson and Okoe represent their first All-America nods in their collegiate careers.

All six Bulldog honorees were All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) choices this fall and previously received Football Gazette All-Super Region Three recognition for the 2017 season. Both Sieler and Thomas have been consensus All-America choices by every organization to date while Daugherty also received acclaim as an All-American from at least one other source for the third-straight year.

The Don Hansen team carries out the legacy of long-time small college football advocate Don Hansen, who passed away at age 75 on Aug. 29, 2010. Hansen, from Brookfield, Ill., started and published Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette for three decades, selecting NCAA Division II All-America teams for the first time in 1988. Don Hansen's Football Gazette began selecting Division II All-Region squads in 2003.

Along with reaching the NCAA Division II National Quarterfinals in 2017 for the second consecutive year, the Bulldogs also made their fourth-straight trip to the D2 Playoffs and posted an 11-2 record, marking the first time in school history in which FSU has won 11 games or more in four-straight seasons. Last summer, Hero Sports picked FSU as Michigan's Best College Football program regardless of division.

Over the last four seasons at Ferris State, the Bulldogs have compiled a 45-7 overall record and made four consecutive NCAA Playoff appearances, claimed two conference championships, posted two unbeaten regular-seasons, twice made the national quarterfinals, captured a regional title and reached the national semifinals. Ferris State has also accumulated two Harlon Hill National Player of the Year trophies, twice had a student-athlete tabbed as the nation's National Scholar-Athlete of the Year and won six postseason games.

In the six seasons under Annese, the Bulldogs have become a national power on the Division II level. FSU has posted a 60-14 overall mark in the last six years and the Bulldogs have also posted the best winning percentage of all 21 collegiate programs in the state of Michigan along with the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) since his arrival. Twice he's been tabbed as the Super Region Coach of the Year at Ferris State.

Overall, Annese has won 83% of his games as a head coach on the collegiate and prep levels and owns 285 wins to date, which is the most of any current GLIAC member head coach at all levels.