PRINCETON, N.J. -- Two of the best stories from the 2017 #IvyFootball season, Yale and Columbia, came away with Ivy League postseason awards after a vote by the eight coaches.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Yale freshman
Zane Dudek (Kittanning, Pa.) was a unanimous decision for Rookie of the Year after becoming the first freshman ever to lead the League in rushing. Dudek ran for 1,133 yards on 159 carries, averaging 7.1 yards per carry and 113.3 yards per game. He also led the League in overall touchdowns (16), rushing touchdowns (15) and all-purpose yards (1,345). In the national statistics, Dudek is second in scoring, tied for second in rushing touchdowns, third in yards per carry and total touchdowns, and seventh in rushing yards and rushing yards per game. He leads all freshmen in all of those categories. Dudek is the fourth Bulldog to be named Rookie of the Year and the first since Mike McLeod in 2005. Dudek was also a unanimous choice for first-team All-Ivy, the first rookie named first team offense since Princeton’s
Chuck Dibilio in 2011 and the first-ever unanimous selection.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Columbia head coach
Al Bagnoli led the Lions to an 8-2 season, 5-2 in Ivy play, marking their best overall and conference records since 1996. Columbia was 4-36 in the four years prior to Bagnoli’s arrival, 2-8 his first year and 3-7 his second season, before jumping out to a 6-0 start in 2017 en route to its 8-2 campaign. The Lions’ 6-0 start gave them a seven-game win streak dating back to last season, their longest since 1935. Columbia also defeated Princeton, Penn and Dartmouth in the same season for the first time since 1971. For his efforts, Bagnoli was named one of 18 finalists for the STATS FCS Eddie Robinson Award, which honors the FCS National Coach of the Year.
FIRST-TEAM ALL-IVY
2017 Ivy League champion Yale led the way with eight players named first-team All-Ivy, highlighted by the unanimous decision of Dudek and senior linebacker
Matthew Oplinger (Summit, N.J.).
Penn was next with five on the first team, including the Quakers’ all-everything wide receiver
Justin Watson (Bridgeville, Pa.), who tied for the League-lead with 14 touchdown receptions. Watson also set Ivy League records for consecutive games with a touchdown reception (10) and consecutive games with at least one catch (40). He was unanimously voted first-team All-Ivy for the third-straight season.
Columbia set a program record with 12 All-Ivy selections, highlighted by four first team recipients in sophomore wide receiver
Josh Wainwright (Austin, Texas) and seniors
Lord Hyeamang (DL – Lakeville, Minn.),
Cameron Roane (DB – Durham, N.C.) and
Parker Thome (P - Hortonville, Wis.).
Princeton also placed four on the first team, including a pair of unanimous selections in senior quarterback
Chad Kanoff (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) and junior wide receiver
Jesper Horsted (Shoreview, Minn.). Kanoff rewrote the Ivy records book, throwing for a League single-season record 3,474 yards, with 29 touchdown passes, matching the second-most in Ivy history. Horsted led the League in receptions (92), receptions per game (9.2), receiving yards (1,226) and receiving yards per game (122.6), and tied Watson for the League lead in touchdowns (14).
Besides Oplinger, three other defenders were unanimous voted first team. Cornell senior safety
Nick Gesualdi (Sykesville, Md.) was a unanimous choice for the second-straight season, Brown senior defensive end
Richard Jarvis (Watertown, Mass.) earned his second-straight first team honor and first as a unanimous selection and Dartmouth junior linebacker
Jack Traynor (Lake Forest, Ill.) took home his first career All-Ivy honor. Harvard junior
Justice Shelton-Mosley (Sacramento, Calif.) was the unanimous pick as a return specialist, and also an honorable mention All-Ivy wide receiver.
The 2017 Asa S. Bushnell Cup Presentation, honoring the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, will take place on Monday, Dec. 4 at the New York Hilton Midtown, and broadcast live on
the Ivy League Network (ILN), now available on Apple TV, Roku and the ILN app on Apple and Android devices.. The Bushnell Cup finalists will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 28.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
*
Zane Dudek, Yale (Fr., RB – Kittanning, Pa.)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Al Bagnoli, Columbia
FIRST-TEAM ALL-IVY
Offense
Jon Bezney, Yale (Sr., OL – Cincinnati)
Matt Kaskey, Dartmouth (Jr., OL – Winnetka, Ill.)
Nathan Kirchmier, Penn (Sr., OL – Pembroke Pines, Fla.)
Karl Marback, Yale (Sr., OL – Birmingham, Mich.)
Mitchell Sweigart, Princeton (Sr., OL – Washington Boro, Pa.)
*Chad Kanoff, Princeton (Sr., QB – Pacific Palisades, Calif.)
*Zane Dudek, Yale (Fr., RB – Kittanning, Pa.)
Charlie Booker III, Harvard (Jr., RB – Houston)
*Jesper Horsted, Princeton (Jr., WR – Shoreview, Minn.)
Josh Wainwright, Columbia (So., WR – Austin, Texas)
*Justin Watson, Penn (Sr., WR – Bridgeville, Pa.)
Jaeden Graham, Yale (Sr., TE – Aurora, Colo.)
Defense
John Herubin, Yale (Sr., DL – Coppell, Texas)
Lord Hyeamang, Columbia (Sr., DL – Lakeville, Minn.)
*Richard Jarvis, Brown (Sr., DE – Watertown, Mass.)
Louis Vecchio, Penn (Sr., DE – Orange, Calif.)
Tom Johnson, Princeton (Jr., LB – Moorestown, N.J.)
Nick Miller, Penn (Jr., LB – New Market, Md.)
*Matthew Oplinger, Yale (Sr., LB – Summit, N.J.)
*Jack Traynor, Dartmouth (Jr., LB – Lake Forest, Ill.)
Hayden Carlson, Yale (Sr., DB – Glen Ellyn, Ill.)
*Nick Gesualdi, Cornell (Sr., S – Sykesville, Md.)
Cameron Roane, Columbia (Sr., DB – Durham, N.C.)
Spencer Rymiszewski, Yale (Sr., DB – West Chester, Pa.)
Special Teams
Jack Soslow, Penn (Jr., K – Bryn Mawr, Pa.)
Parker Thome, Columbia (Sr., P – Hortonville, Wis.)
*Justice Shelton-Mosley, Harvard (Jr., WR/RS – Sacramento, Calif.)
SECOND-TEAM ALL-IVY^
Offense
Eric Ramirez, Princeton (Sr., OL – York, Pa.)
Patrick Kilcommons, Dartmouth (Jr., OL – Berwyn, Ill.)
J. Edward Keating, Cornell (Jr., OL – Birmingham, Mich.)
Anders Huizenga, Yale (Sr., OL – Trophy Club, Texas)
Christian Montano, Brown (Sr., OL – Orange, Conn.)
Clay Eubank, Brown (Sr., OL – Coto De Caza, Calif.)
Bewley Wales, Columbia (Sr., OL – Tulsa, Okla.)
Tommy Dennis, Penn (Jr., OT – East Setauket, N.Y.)
Reily Radosevich, Princeton (So., OL – Manalapan, N.J.)
Sterling Strother, Yale (So., OL – Moraga, Calif.)
Anders Hill, Columbia (Sr., QB – Boulder, Colo.)
Tre Solomon, Penn (Sr., RB – Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Charlie Volker, Princeton (Jr., RB – Fair Haven, N.J.)
Stephen Carlson, Princeton (Jr., WR – Jamestown, N.Y.)
Hunter Hagdorn, Dartmouth (So., WR – Manvel, Texas)
Chris Williams-Lopez, Yale (Sr., WR – Duluth, Ga.)
Nicholas Bokun, Penn (Sr., TE – Hobart, Ind.)
Defense
Charles Callender, Yale (So., DE – Cutler Bay, Fla.)
Stone Hart, Harvard (Sr., DT – Olympia, Wash.)
Kyle Mullen, Yale (Jr., DE – Manalapan, N.J.)
Nick Tomkins, Dartmouth (Sr., DL – Matawan, N.J.)
Kurt Frimel, Cornell (Sr., LB – Cream Ridge, N.J.)
Luke Hutton, Harvard (Sr., LB – Austin, Texas)
Eric Meile, Dartmouth (Sr., LB – Ramsey, N.J.)
Foyesade Oluokun, Yale (Sr., LB – St. Louis)
Landon Baty, Columbia (Sr., DB – Mountain View, Calif.)
Tanner Lee, Harvard (Sr., S – Spanish Fort, Ala.)
Danny McManus, Dartmouth (Sr., DB – Mendota Heights, Minn.)
Sam Philippi, Penn (Jr., DB – Trabuco Canyon, Calif.)
Isiah Swann, Dartmouth (So., DB – Queen Creek, Ariz.)
Special Teams
Nickolas Null, Cornell (So., K – Bradenton, Fla.)
Alex Galland, Yale (Jr., P – Bakersfield, Calif.)
Tiger Bech, Princeton (So., WR/RS – Lafayette, La.)
HONORABLE MENTION
Offense
Jack Anderson, Dartmouth (Sr., OL – Palo Alto, Calif.)
Greg Begnoche, Penn (So., OT – Delray Beach, Fla.)
Dieter Eiselen, Yale (So., OL – Stellenbosch, South Africa)
Markham Paukune, Columbia (Sr., OL – Fort Worth, Texas)
Jack Heneghan, Dartmouth (Sr., QB – Atherton, Calif.)
Kurt Rawlings, Yale (So., QB – Bel Air, Md.)
Karekin Brooks, Penn (So., RB – Marietta, Ga.)
Deshawn Salter, Yale (Sr., RB – Syracuse, N.Y.)
Ryder Stone, Dartmouth (Sr., RB – Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Jakob Prall, Brown (So., WR – Tipp City, Ohio)
Justice Shelton-Mosley, Harvard (Jr., WR/RS – Sacramento, Calif.)
Ronald Smith II, Columbia (So., WR – St. Louis)
Graham Adomitis, Princeton (Jr., TE – Ross Township, Pa.)
Stephen Johnston, Dartmouth (Sr., TE – Potomac, Md.)
Defense
Rocco Di Leo, Dartmouth (Sr., DL – Elmhurst, Ill.)
Kurt Holuba, Princeton (Sr., DL – Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.)
Dominic Perkovic, Columbia (Sr., DL – Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)
Charlie Pontarelli, Dartmouth (Sr., DL – Glenview, Ill.)
Richie Ryan, Harvard (Jr., DT – Pittsburgh)
Jay Cammon, Jr., Penn (Jr., LB – Landover, Md.)
Colton Moskal, Penn (Sr., LB – Lake Zurich, Ill.)
Michael Murphy, Columbia (So., LB – Tampa, Fla.)
Colin Boit, Dartmouth (Sr., DB – Sammamish, Wash.)
Connor Coughlin, Brown (Sr., FS – Medford, N.Y.)
Malcolm Dixon, Yale (So., DB – Gardena, Calif.)
Jason Alessi, Yale (Sr., DB – Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)
David Jones, Cornell (So., DB – Sugar Land, Texas)
C.J. Wall, Princeton (Fr., DB – Plano, Texas)
DJ Woullard, Cornell (JR., DB – Fullerton, Calif.)
Special Teams
David Smith, Dartmouth (Sr., K – Montreal)
Hunter Kelley, Penn (Sr., P – Huntington Beach, Calif.)
Nickolas Null, Cornell (So., P – Bradenton, Fla.)
Will Allen, Columbia (Fr., DB/RS – Pembroke Pines, Fla.)
*-unanimous decision
^-second team expanded due to ties in the voting