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Hawkins and Robinson highlighted Illinois State's five first-team
all-conference selections, the most for the 'Birds since 2000.
Joining the league's MVPs on the first team were offensive lineman
Stafford Davis, linebacker Cameron Siskowic and punter Ryan Hoffman.
Also, senior offensive lineman Mike Stegeman garnered second-team
all-league honors, while quarterback Luke Drone, tight end Jonathan
Denley and defensive back James Temple were each honorable mention
selections. "I'm thrilled for Brent and Laurent on their
recognition, and I feel they are well-deserved," said head coach
Denver Johnson. "I'm sure both are humbled because there are a
number of guys that contributed to their success, and that showed in
the number of our all-conference players. Obviously we are pleased
about all our all-conference selections, and we hope it's indicative
of the type of players we are bringing into this program."
Robinson, a 2005 Walter Payton Award finalist [see related
article], became the second Redbird to claim the league's award as
offensive player of the year, joining Toby Davis, who won the honor
in 1992. The junior wide receiver ranks No. 1 nationally in yards
per game, with 133.2, and No. 2 in catches per contest, with 7.8. He
set league and school season marks with 1,465 receiving yards on a
conference-tying-best 86 catches. The three-time GFC Offensive
Player of the Week posted six 100-yard receiving games, including
two games of 200 yards or more, highlighted by his 292 receiving
yards on 14 catches against Indiana State in the season finale. The
Rockledge, Fla., native finished with 12 touchdown catches and had
three games where he scored three touchdowns in each.
"I'm really surprised I won the award, but I'm happy," said
Robinson. "We had such a good balance this year offensively with our
running and passing games, and none of this would have been possible
without the play of the offensive line. I really think the
relationship that Luke and I built during the summer and having a
friendship off the field just carried into the games and made us
successful."
For the fourth straight season, the Gateway's top defensive
player wore an Illinois State uniform. Hawkins joins three-time
winner Boomer Grigsby and Brian Gant as the only Redbirds to win the
league honor. The 2005 Buck Buchanan Award finalist finished the
regular season leading all of Division I-AA in tackles for loss,
with 26.5, and forced fumbles, with seven, while ranking second in
sacks. His 17 quarterback sacks set the Illinois State and Gateway
Conference single-season records, and he also claimed the school
marks for tackles for loss in a season and forced fumbles. The
Godfrey, Ill., native was named the conference player of the week
twice and was the national player of the week once, after his
five-sack performance against co-conference champion Northern Iowa.
He also led all league defensive linemen with 67 tackles.
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 "It is definitely an honor, and I owe a lot of thank-yous to my
teammates and coaches," Hawkins said. "Coming into the season,
everybody (on the team) knew we had a great defense and each of us
stepped up. If you look at our stats from last season, we had a lot
of people step up, and that made us better as a unit. I got to play
with a lot of great players, and this honor is a tribute to them."
Davis closes out his Illinois State career as a four-time
all-conference selection, including back-to-back first-team honors.
The senior offensive lineman made the move to center this season and
started all 46 games of his collegiate career. In 2005, Davis helped
pave the way for the most prolific offense in Redbird history. ISU
averaged 39.2 points per game and a league-best 40.7 points per
conference game, while also compiling a league-best 477.5 total
yards of offense per game, which also ranked No. 4 nationally.
As the only I-AA punter to grace the 2005 Ray Guy Award Watch
List, Hoffman was a lock to earn first-team honors. The three-time
all-Gateway selection was awarded the league's honor as special
teams player of the week three times in 2005. He led the conference
with an average of 42.2 yards per punt, which also ranked No. 10
nationally, and owns Illinois State's best career punting average
with 42.2 yards per kick. During the year, Hoffman placed 12 of his
41 punts inside the 20-yard line, including nine inside the 10,
while having nine punts 50 or more yards in length.
Siskowic, Illinois State's second 2005 Buck Buchanan Award
finalist, finished the regular season as the conference's tackle
leader with 132 stops, 37 more than the league's runner-up. He also
led the league in conference games with 87 tackles, for a 12.4
tackle-per-game average, while ranking third in the conference in
tackles for loss, with 14.5. The product of San Diego, Calif.,
finished the season ranking fourth nationally in tackles per game,
with 12 stops per contest, and also ranked No. 15 in tackles for
loss.
The league office will continue to announce postseason awards
when the conference unveils the all-newcomer team on Wednesday.
[Todd Kober,
assistant athletics director, media relations,
Illinois
State University]
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