Erie, Pa. – Senior linebacker Bryan Boyce of the Mercyhurst football team has been named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America Football First Team. Boyce is the first Mercyhurst football player to earn first team Academic All-American honors and the first Laker to be named Academic All-American since Tim Brediger made honorable mention in 1998.
The Academic All-America team, sponsored by ESPN The Magazine and CoSIDA, honors student-athletes who have excelled in both the classroom and on the athletic field. In order to be considered for the honor, student-athletes must hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 or higher and be in at least their sophomore year of college.
Boyce (Hubbard, Ohio/Hubbard) currently has a 3.81 grade point average as a biology major and was a key contributor to a resurgent Laker defense. He came back from injury to lead the team with 91 tackles. He tied for second on the team with 10 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. Boyce recovered two fumbles to lead the Lakers. His presence on the linebacking corps, along with a healthy Jimmy Kokrak, proved unsettling for opposing offenses. Boyce played effectively against the run, blitzing, and in pass coverage, as he picked off one pass. He was part of a defense that held opponents to 283 yards per game, a 136 yard improvement over the defense’s 2007 numbers.
He was very effective in a three-game stretch from Oct. 4 through Oct. 18, making five tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks and forcing a fumble in the Lakers’ 49-14 win over Lock Haven Oct. 4. He then registered 13 games in each of the next two games, a 35-32 win at Gannon and Mercyhurst’s game at IUP Oct. 18. In the Gannon game, he had three tackles for loss, including one sack, and he intercepted a pass at IUP.
Mercyhurst finished the season 7-4, a three-game improvement over 2007 and the Lakers’ first seven-win season since 1995. The Lakers played California (Pa.) for the PSAC West Championship Nov. 1 at Tullio Field, falling 17-6 despite a solid effort.