Levingston An All-American Record-Setting Year Earns Ewu Star I-Aa Selection As Return Specialist

Eastern Washington’s Bashir Levingston was honored Tuesday for the brilliant athletic ability he displayed this fall during the Eagles’ otherwise disappointing college football season.

Levingston, a senior transfer from Utah State, was named to the American Football Coaches Association’s NCAA Division I-AA All-America team as a return specialist.

The 5-foot-9, 180-pounder, put together one of the most productive seasons in the history of the game after enrolling at EWU over the summer. And he broke or tied 34 school, conference and I-AA records in the process.

“A lot of coaches across the country voted on the team, but I was the fortunate coach (who got) to watch him play,” said Mike Kramer, whose defending Big Sky Conference champions finished 5-6 despite Levingston’s heroics. “What he accomplished was amazing and unprecedented in college football history.”

Levingston, who spent two years as a football and track standout at Monterey (Calif.) Peninsula Junior College before transferring to Utah State as a junior, led all I-AA players in punt returns with an average of 20.8 yards per return and three touchdowns. He finished third, nationally, in kickoff returns with an average of 29.5 yards and returned three for touchdowns.

He also caught 11 passes for 357 yards and six touchdowns - the longest coming on a 95-yard reception that resulted in one of his three TD catches against Cal State Northridge.

The seven I-AA records he tied or broke included kickoff returns for touchdowns in a game (3) and season (3) - the latter mark later bettered by Butler’s Ryan Zimpleman, kickoff return yards in a game (326), average kickoff return yards in a game (65.2), combined return yards in a game (349) and touchdowns scored on kickoff and punt returns in a game (3) and season (6).

Levingston earned ESPN/USA Today and Sports Network national player of the week honors after returning punts 68 and 60 yards to score against Portland State, and picked up the same honor after returning kickoffs 84, 90 and 92 yards for TDs against Sacramento State.

He transferred to Eastern after returning kickoffs and starting at cornerback as a junior at Utah State. He was also a sprinter on the Aggies track team, placing third in the 100 meters (10.55) and fourth in the 200 meters (21.08) at the Big West Conference Championships. He also ran a leg on Utah State’s 4x100 relay team that placed second.

BY THE NUMBERS Bashir Levingston’s key 1998 statistics, including average yards per return or catch, I-AA ranking and TDs scored. *-denotes per-game average.

Category No. Avg. Rank TD Punt returns 16 20.8 1 3 Kickoff returns 29 29.5 3 3 Receptions 11 32.5 - 6 All-purpose 145.2* 21 12