Three Missouri Valley Football Conference student-athletes have been selected as First Team All-Americans by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. LB Kyle Glazier of Western Illinois, OL David Arkin of Missouri State and OL Ryan McKnight of South Dakota State represent the MVFC.
Glazier (Geneseo/Geneseo) was voted as one of three linebackers to the Walter Camp 2010 Football Championship Subdivision All-America team. He is just the second Leatherneck in the past eight seasons to receive the Walter Camp honor. He stands second nationally in tackles per game, averaging 12.85 per game (167 overall). One of 20 finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award (given to the national Defensive Player of the Year), Glazier registered 10 or more tackles in 10 of the 13 games played. He also led the team with 13 tackles for a loss and made four sacks on the year. In addition, Glazier recorded two interceptions, forced two fumbles and broke up two passes.
A three-year starter (finishing his career with 35 consecutive starts), Glazier led the Leathernecks in tackles the past three seasons. His 392 career tackles (378 over the past three seasons) rank him fourth among the Western all-time leaders. Glazier played a key role in leading the Leathernecks to an 8-5 overall record, second place finish in the MVFC (5-3), and advance to the Second Round of the FCS Playoffs.
Arkin is a 2009 and 2010 first-team All-MVFC lineman who graded at 87 percent for the season with 82 knockdowns. He was an ESPN Academic All-America second teamer and was recently selected as the only MVFC representative on the 2010 American Football Coaches Association All-America team. Arkin also earned second-team All-MVFC honors in 2007 and 2008 and earned Valley Offensive Lineman of the Week honors six times in his career. He was named MSU Offensive Lineman of the Year in 2007, 2008 and 2009, made 44 straight starts and was the MVC State Farm Good Neighbor Award recipient for the fall of 2008. Arkin is also a two-time MVFC All-Academic first-team pick and graduates this semester with a 3.72 GPA in construction management.
A senior from Sioux Falls, McKnight earned all-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors for the second consecutive season in 2010. He anchored a relatively inexperienced Jackrabbit offensive line that allowed only six sacks all season, while averaging 344 yards of total offense per game. The 6-foot-1, 295-pounder started nine games at center and two at left guard, helping pave the way for 1,000-yard rusher Kyle Minett.
In all, players from 12 different conferences and 24 institutions were represented on the 2010 Walter Camp FCS All-America Team. The Big Sky and Southern Conferences had the most selections with four selections each. The Colonial Athletic Association and Missouri Valley Football Conference each had three. The 26-member team was selected by the head coaches and sports information directors of the Football Championship Subdivision schools and certified by the accounting and auditing firm, Marcum LLP.
Walter Camp, The Father of American Football, first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp a former Yale University athlete and football coach is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation a New Haven based all-volunteer group was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting All-America teams for the Football Bowl and Championship subdivisions.
