Complete Teams
TROY, N.Y. – The Liberty League has announced its year-end football awards and six Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athletes have been recognized. Senior defensive back
Tim Acker was named to the First Team and five others were chosen to the Second Team.
Selected to the Second Team were offensive lineman
Brian Hall, kicker
Peter Nilson, defensive lineman
Darryl Brown, linebacker
Colin King and defensive back
Bobby Stutz. Brown is a junior while each of the others are seniors.
A safety from Arlington, Wash., Acker was second on the team with 69 tackles, including a team-high 44 unassisted. He also had 2.5 tackles for lost yards (11), an 8-yard sack, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He was the Liberty League Defensive Performer of the Week once and a Liberty League All-Academic honoree. This is the third time Acker, a graduate of Arlington High School, has been named All-Liberty League in his career.
Hall, a left tackle who hails from Penn Yan, N.Y., started all nine games, helping the Engineers rush for 1,395 yards and 12 touchdowns. RPI’s quarterbacks passed for 1,461 yards and nine touchdowns. A graduate of Penn Yan Academy, Hall was also an All-Liberty League honoree as a junior. He is also a multiple All-Academic honoree.
A native of Appleton, Wisc., Nilson connected on 6 of 10 field goals, including a career-best 38-yarder, and 19 of 20 point-after-touchdowns. He also handled kickoffs for the Engineers, averaging 57.9 yards per attempt with five touchbacks. The Kimberly High School graduate, another multiple league All-Academic honoree, was also All-League last season.
A defensive end, Brown finished with 37 tackles, including 22 unassisted, 7.5 for lost yards (42) and 6.0 sacks (36 yards lost). The Hollis, N.Y., native also broke up two passes, recovered two fumbles, forced a fumble and blocked a kick. Among Liberty League players, the Bayside High School graduate was fourth in sacks per game (0.67).
King, a Glenmont, N.Y., native who attended Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School, was third on the team with 65 tackles, including 33 unassisted. He had a 3-yard sack, four tackles for lost yards (21) and two pass breakups.
Stutz, who played cornerback, had 14 solo tackles and eight assisted stops for 22 total. The Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., native led the team in interceptions with four, while adding three pass breakups. He also had a tackle for a 2-yard loss and a fumble recovery. Stutz, a graduate of Dobbs Ferry High School, is a multiple league All-Academic selection.
RPI, which was second in the Liberty League in scoring defense (16.1 points allowed per game), total defense (304.3 yards per game) and pass defense efficiency (99.9), posted a 5-4 record in 2009.