Quinn Backus named Walter Camp All-American Again
12/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
2014 Walter Camp All-American Team
CONWAY - Coastal Carolina linebacker Quinn Backus was named to the prestigious 25-man Walter Camp Football Championship Subdivision All-American team.
The team was selected by the head coaches and sports information directors of the FCS schools and certified by the accounting and auditing firm, Marcum LLP.
Backus joins South Dakota running back Zack Zenner, Missouri State defensive back Caleb Schaffitzel and Portland State punter Kyle Loomis as the only repeat selections from last year.
Backus is just the second player in Big South history to be a three-time All-American after being the league's first three-time conference Defensive Player of the Year and the first player to lead the league in tackles three times. Backus earned third team All-American honors from The Sports Network as a sophomore and was a consensus All-American last season. The other league player to be a three-time selection was Liberty's Mike Brown, who was a first team selection in 2009 and '10 while earning honorable mention honors in 2011.
This season, despite missing a game due to injury and not playing the second half in two blowout wins, Backus complied a league-best 127 tackles - including 10.0 for losses and a career-best 5.5 sacks - with a Big South record six forced fumbles, which ranked fourth in the FCS this season. He added two interceptions, seven pass breakups, six quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery. Five of his turnovers created led to Coastal Carolina touchdowns. Backus was the only player in the Big South to rank among the top 10 in tackles (first), forced fumbles (first), sacks (sixth), tackles for losses (seventh) and passes defended (seventh).
Backus has not only been a dominant force in the Big South, but he has left his mark nationally as well. He finished his career with 441 tackles, 14th on the NCAA FCS all-time list, and 243 solo tackles, 10th on the FCS career list. His 441 tackles is second on the Big South all-time list - first in school history - and he is the CCU and league's all-time leader with 243 solo tackles. He additionally finished fifth in league history and first in school history in assisted tackles (198); 10th in league history and third in CCU history with 30.0 tackles for losses; fourth in school history with 9.5 sacks; sixth in school history with eight interceptions; second in CCU and sixth in league history with 154 interception return yards; fifth in CCU and 11th in league history with 17 PBU; first in CCU and Big South history with nine forced fumbles and second in school history with four fumble recoveries.
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 annually an All-America team.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game's predominant awards.
Coastal Carolina 2014 National Postseason Honors
(as of Dec. 16, 2014)
Quinn Backus
Buck Buchanan Award (4th)
Walter Camp FCS All-American (one, 25-man team)
CollegeSportsMadness.com FCS All-American (1st team)
Chad Hamilton
American Football Coaches Association FCS All-American (one, 25-man team)
CollegeSportsMadness.com FCS All-American (1st team)
Alex Ross
Walter Payton Award (7th)
Joe Moglia
Eddie Robinson Award (2nd)
American Football Coaches Association Region 2 FCS Coach of the Year
