MiNNEAPOLIS - The ninth annual D3football.com All-Region teams presented by Salem, Virginia's Championship City were announced and Gallaudet University senior defensive end Adham Talaat (Springfield, Va.) was named to the All-East Region defense second team. Talaat is the second Bison in school history to receive D3football.com All-Region recognition after Tony Tatum was given the same honor last year.
The honor adds to a long list of awards Talaat has earned in the postseason. He was recently named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America first-team, the first Bison to receive the first-team honor, he also became the first to earn Academic All-America recognition two years in a row. He is the only player in the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) to earn Academic All-America honors this season. In addition, Talaat received All-ECFC defense first-team honors. Talaat is also Gallaudet's first-ever finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy, given to the most outstanding football player in NCAA Division III.
Although Talaat was double and triple-teamed in every game, he finished the season with 46 total tackles (26 solo) averaging 4.2 tackles per game. Talaat also recorded five sacks for loss of 42 yards and had one fumble recovery.
Talaat played a great role on the Gallaudet University football team that became the first men's team to make an NCAA tournament appearance. Talaat helped the Bison win their first ECFC championship as they tied a school record nine wins in a season and set two new records with an 11-game winning streak dating back to the 2012 season and 11 games played in a single season.
Three different players from an ECFC program join Talaat on the All-East teams including Mount Ida guard Frank Civitello (third-team offense) and special teams player D'Andre Smith (third-team defense) and Husson University defensive tackle Ernest Wiggins (third-team defense).
Nominating begins shortly after the regular season ends, and involves the Sports Information Director at each institution is contacted by email and the list is sent to conference offices for vetting before our panel of SIDs and D3football.com staff in each region votes. Players who are first- or second-team all-conference or independents at full Division III members are eligible for nomination. In 2013, 952 players were nominated, a new high.
The teams, selected in balloting by East Region sports information directors and D3football.com staff, were chosen from 284 nominations by Division III member schools. A total of 77 players were chosen to the All-East Region teams. All players nominated for All-Region are eligible to be considered for the D3football.com All-America Teams that will be announced on Friday, Dec. 20, prior to the NCAA Division III football national championship game.
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