Three Eagles I-AA first-team All-Americans

As a reflection of their high-powered passing attack, three Eastern Washington offensive players received All-America honors.

The E2 Passing Attack of senior quarterback Erik Meyer and senior wide receiver Eric Kimble, plus sophomore lineman Matt Alfred, were voted to The Sports Network I-AA first-team offense in football.

Meyer and Kimble became EWU’s first-ever repeat selections at their positions.

Kimble was a first-team pick last year. Meyer, one of three finalists for the Payton Award as the I-AA Offensive Player of the Year, was a third-team selection last year.

The Payton Award will be presented in Chattanooga, Tenn., Thursday night prior to Friday’s I-AA championship game between Northern Iowa and Appalachian State. Northern Iowa has won three straight playoff games with late field goals, including its first-round, 41-38 win over Eastern.

Kimble was also a first-team pick by the Associated Press, I-AA.org and the Football Gazette last year. Meyer was an AP third-teamer.

The other Eastern players to repeat as I-AA All-America selections (honorable mention or better) include return specialist Lamont Brightful (1999-2000-2001), running back Jesse Chatman (2000-2001), defensive end Jeff Allen (1999-2000), defensive tackle Dario Romero (1999-2000), offensive lineman Jim Buzzard (1996-97), linebacker Derek Strey (1996-97), defensive back Maurice Perigo (1996-97), tight end Jesse Hardt (1994-95), offensive lineman Harold Fox (1993-94), offensive lineman Kevin Sargent (1990-91) and offensive lineman Jeff Mickel (1987-88).

Alfred is the 15th Eagle offensive lineman to earn All-America honors in the 13 seasons current EWU head coach Paul Wulff has been at the school. Last year guard Rocky Hanni was selected as a freshman.

Meyer and Kimble broke more than a dozen records each as they re-wrote Eastern’s record book and made their way up Big Sky Conference and NCAA Division I-AA career listings.

In addition to his eight career records, Meyer also owns five single season marks and one single game record. Kimble owns nine career records and four single season marks.

The single season records Meyer broke in 2005 were for passing yards (4,003), passing yards per game (333.6) and total offense (4,224), while Kimble broke the single season receptions record with 87.

A total of nine Big Sky Conference players are on one of the three TSN teams.