2021 Great Midwest Spring Football All-Conference Team (PDF)
INDIANAPOLIS – Student-athletes from all seven competing member institutions were represented on the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Football All-Conference Team as announced on Monday.
The coaches determined members of the first team, second team and third team, by a positional allocation on offense, defense and special teams, while also deciding a handful of individual award winners.
Tiffin officially claimed the conference championship title under Great Midwest Coach of the Year Cris Reisert with an undefeated run through the league standings this spring to officially make it back-to-back trophies. The Dragons had also won the conference trophy in 2019 while qualifying for the NCAA Championship Super Region 1 bracket. It is also the second straight coach of the year honor for Reisert as chosen by his colleagues on the sidelines.
The Great Midwest Player of the Year was Tiffin senior quarterback Nick Watson. In just six games, Watson completed almost 55 percent of his passes for nearly 1,500 yards and threw for 9 touchdowns vs. just one interception. He was conference offensive player of the week three times and averaged over 247 yards through the air per game.
The redshirt senior was also a dual threat in the ground game while scoring seven rushing TD’s to go with 337 yards and 5.7 yards per carry.
One of Watson’s go-to weapons on offense was senior WR Devin Butler, who was voted as the Great Midwest Offensive Player of the Year. Butler was the league leader in receiving yards per game (76.4) and averaged over 18 yards per catch, another number ranking first among all players.
Butler showed up big time in the conference championship game vs. Findlay and was named conference player of the week for his efforts. Butler caught four passes for scores and had 21 receptions for 382 yards.
The Dragons earned additional season honors with senior Trent Clark earning Great Midwest Offensive Lineman of the Year and dangerous edge rusher Charlie Cleveland being named Great Midwest Defensive Lineman of the Year for the second straight time.
Clark helped pave the way in a ground game that averaged over 171 yards per game and provided plenty of protection for Watson to pick his spots in the passing game. Clark was the top vote getter among all interior linemen in the all-conference balloting. Cleveland tied for the league lead in sacks with 5 and was second in tackles for a loss with 8. He finished with an average of 5.5 tackles per game and is an absolute handful while stuffing the run or getting into the opponent’s backfield packed into an explosive 6-4, 250 pound frame.
Findlay and Ohio Dominican tied for runner-up in the standings this spring at 4-2 in league games as both programs, respectively, claimed some individual hardware. There was a tie for Great Midwest Freshman of the Year status between Ohio Dominican RB Travis Whittaker and Findlay RB Garret Clark.
Both made a significant impact in the effectiveness of their team’s running game as each player scored five touchdowns. Whittaker, a former standout from Gahanna Lincoln HS, had a slight edge in total yards while Clark, a prep star at Strongsville HS, had a little bit higher yards per carry average.
Ballhawking safety Christopher Jefferson of Findlay was voted as the Great Midwest Defensive Player of the Year. The junior averaged 5.3 tackles per game and recorded a pair of interceptions, including a long of 92 yards returned for a pick six. Jefferson set the single season conference record for interceptions in 2019 and earned Division II All-American honors for his performance. He also recovered a fumble and broke up six pass attempts.
The Great Midwest Special Teams Player of the Year award remained with Ohio Dominican after a dominant run by former punter Logen Neidhardt. The spring honor went to senior kicker/punter Jed Quackenbush, who handled both duties in less than ideal weather conditions for most of the spring.
Quackenbush averaged almost 41 yards per punt while leading the league in punts inside the 20-yard line (18) and boots of 50 or more yards (5). He converted one field goal, his lone attempt, and nailed 15 PAT’s.
The Great Midwest Elite 23 Award winner for football was junior quarterback Wiley Cain of Kentucky Wesleyan. Cain is also the conference representative for the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He is double majoring in Biology and Business Administration with a cumulative 3.99 GPA in the clasroom.
The Great Midwest now turns the page over to the fall 2021 where eight teams will be in the mix for a conference championship with the addition of new full member institution Ashland University.