12/19/2024 3:18:00 PM By: Gregg Petcoff Story Links 2024 All-NFFCC Teams COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Five players from Western Colorado’s NCAA Division II playoff team have been honored with inclusion on the 2024 All-National Football Foundation Colorado Chapter teams, announced Thursday afternoon. Tight end Daniel Parsek and offensive lineman Stevie Byron were voted to the first-team […]
12/19/2024 3:18:00 PM
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Five players from Western Colorado’s NCAA Division II playoff team have been honored with inclusion on the 2024 All-National Football Foundation Colorado Chapter teams, announced Thursday afternoon.
Tight end Daniel Parsek and offensive lineman Stevie Byron were voted to the first-team offense, defensive end Ricky Freymond and linebacker Kendall Lightfoot earned first-team defense recognition, and Drew Nash was voted the All-NFFCC second-team quarterback.
Nominees for the All-NFFCC team are submitted by and voted on by the athletics communications directors of the football-playing institutions in the state of Colorado.
Freymond adds to a postseason haul of awards with Thursday’s announcement. One day prior it was announced that the junior was voted the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team selection on the D2CCA, Associated Press (AP), and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) 2024 All-American teams.
The national leader in tackles for loss (24.5) and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference leader in sacks (12.0), Freymond earlier had been named the D2CCA Super Region 4 Defensive Player of the Year as well as the RMAC’s Defensive Player of the Year. His sack total from the season elevated Freymond to the top spot in the Western record book for career sacks, upping his total to 24.5 sacks.
Parsek was the team’s second-leading receiver in both receptions (38) and receiving yards (473), catching three touchdown passes during Western’s playoff campaign. The junior was voted the second-team tight end on the All-RMAC team.
A grad student on the offensive line for Western, Byron helped anchor an offense that was 16th nationally in scoring (34.3 points per game), 20th in total yards per game (418.5), 22nd in passing (248.3 YPG) and 34th nationally in rushing offense (170.2). Byron was voted to the All-RMAC first-team offense.
Lightfoot, a grad student middle linebacker for the Mountaineers, earned first-team All-RMAC honors with 57.0 total tackles, including 27 solo stops, along with 8.5 TFLs, 2.5 sacks, 7 pass breakups, and 1 pick-6 interception.
Nash, second only to quarterback and NFFCC Offensive Player of the Year Shedeur Sanders of the University of Colorado, joined Freymond on AP All-America team and the D2CCA All-Super Region 4 team.
A junior signal-caller, Nash was voted a second-team All-Purpose player on the AP DII All-American squad and the second-team QB on the All-Region team. Earlier in the postseason Nash had been announced as the first-team All-RMAC quarterback.
Nash was responsible for 198 points during the year, 13th most amongst NCAA DII players, and generated 3,245 yards of total offense, a total that was 14th nationally and ranks second for a single season in Western Colorado football history.
He led the RMAC in passing yards (2,676) and passing touchdowns (25) and was 10th in the league on the ground with 608 net yards and 8 rushing touchdowns – including three of 50 yards or longer.
In addition to their on-the-field achievements, Freymond and Nash were also voted to the first-team RMAC All-Academic football team this fall.
Western went 11-2 on the season, winning an 11th game in a single season for the first time in program history. Head coach Jas Bains, the 2024 RMAC Coach of the Year, led the team into the NCAA DII playoffs for the third time in four seasons and the Mountaineers’ 38 wins in that four-year span are the most in any equal span in Western Colorado football history.