November 9, 2004

Football Has Nine on All-RMAC Team

Mins Names Special Teams POY

            Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney football team has placed nine players on the 2004 All-RMAC team, which was released last night.

            Lexington senior Garth Mins leads the selections as he was named the Special Teams Player of the Year. Shickley speedster Ryan Bedlan is the last Loper to have won the award (1999).

            Mins was one of six Lopers to earn first-team honors as he made the defensive unit as the RMAC’s top punt returner.

            Also earning first-team honors were junior receiver Richie Ross (Lincoln), junior tackle James Poynter (Plainview) and sophomore kicker Jessup Pfeifer (Northglenn, Colo.).

            Joining Mins on the defensive team were junior linemen Danny Ostransky (Gretna) and sophomore safety Paul Jimenez (Chino, Calif.).

            In his first year returning punts, Mins set a school record with 407 return yards, including a long return of 74 yards. His average of 13.6 a return was second best in the RMAC.

            One of the most featured kick returners in the league as well, teams kicked the ball away from Mins this year but he still averaged 18.5 yards per kick return.

            Finally, Mins blocked four kicks this year and had close to 10 in his career.

            Earning second-team All-RMAC honors was senior defensive end Ross Gardner (Wakefield) while senior running back Mike Miller (Littleton, Colo.) and junior safety James Rosenbaum (Elkhorn) earned honorable mention honors.

            Ross repeats as a first-team selection while Poynter was an honorable mention pick last fall.

            Miller joins Justin Coleman as the only Lopers to earn All-RMAC accolades four times in career while Pfeifer, Ostransky, Gardner and Rosenbaum each earned all-conference honors for the first time in their careers.

            Ross was among the RMAC receiving leaders (61 recep., 898 yds., 10 TD’s) while Poynter played through a torn labrum in his right shoulder to start all 10 games. He began the year at right tackle but switched to left tackle due to the injury.

            Pfeifer had 68 kicking points this year, fifth most in school history. He was 12 of 15 on field goal attempts and 32 of 35 in PAT’s. He also took over the starting punting duties four games into the year and averaged 39.7 a boot.

            A completely healthy Ostransky racked up 52 tackles, including 13 for lost yardage, in the Lopers new defensive scheme.

            Despite missing one game, Jimenez led UNK in tackles with 74. The big hitter also had seven tackles for loss. 

            Gardner bounced back from a knee injury in 2003 to have 38 tackles, including a team-best 14 TFL, this year while Rosebaum had a team-high five picks. Before this fall, Rosenbaum hadn’t played football since the 2001 season.

            Finally, Miller was among the RMAC rushing leaders, averaging 89.1 yards per game. He carried the ball 245 times for 980 yards (4.0 per carry) and five TD’s.