Eastern Washington’s Gubrud, Tiuli earn preseason All-America honors

Eastern Washington quarterback Gage Gubrud and defensive tackle Jay-Tee Tiuli have been named to the STATS NCAA NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Preseason All-America Team, the group announced Monday.

Gubrud, who finished third in the voting for last year’s Walter Payton Award presented by STATS, was a second-team choice behind 2016 Payton winner Jeremiah Briscoe of Sam Houston State. Tiuli, a first team All-Big Sky selection a year ago, was on the third team and listed among the 97 players honored.

Tiuli earned first team All-Big Sky honors in 2016, starting seven of the 13 games he played at nose tackle while splitting time with senior Matthew Sommer.

Tiuli finished his junior season with 33 tackles and four sacks.

Earlier in July, Gubrud was picked to defend his title as the league’s Offensive MVP. He was last year’s NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Player of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Columbus.

As a first-year starter, Gubrud broke the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision record for passing yards with 5,160.

Eastern players have already reported to campus, and will have their first official practice on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

Eastern opens the season at Texas Tech on Sept. 2.