Ryan ChartrandOne day after taking home the Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player in Division I-AA, Cal Poly senior linebacker Kyle Shotwell was just as relieved as he was excited.
“I was kind of relieved because I wasn’t the guy who broke the tradition at Cal Poly,” Shotwell said Dec. 15 in a phone interview. “I wanted to keep the streak alive.”
Shotwell is the third straight Cal Poly football player to win the award. He led the division in tackles for loss (21) while posting 122 total tackles, seven sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. The Mustangs (7-4) finished 10th in the division in fewest points allowed per game (14.7), fifth in total yards allowed per game (248.3) and third in least passing yards given up (1,463).
Shotwell was presented the award at a banquet Thursday night in Chattanooga, Tenn., on the eve of tonight’s I-AA title game between Appalachian State and Massachusetts. He followed in the footsteps of Cal Poly linebacker Jordan Beck (2004) and defensive end Chris Gocong (2005), who won the two previous awards.
Conducted in November, balloting for the award had the input of 112 media members and sports information directors. With 23 first-place and 19 second-place votes and 275 total points, Shotwell edged James Madison linebacker Akeem Jordan (23, 17, 258).
“Going into the games, the Buchanan is not something you think about,” Shotwell said. “Going into the season, I thought if I can play my best, I’d have a shot. After the San Diego State game, it kind of made me realize that it catapulted me into the front-runner for this thing. Toward the end of the season, you start thinking about it a little more.”
The 6-foot-1, 235-pound Shotwell led the Mustangs to a 16-14 win at I-A San Diego State on Oct. 28. In the Mustangs’ third win ever over a I-A program, Shotwell had 12 tackles (11 solo, five for loss), four sacks and one forced fumble.
In 2005, a year in which Cal Poly went 9-4 and reached the I-AA playoffs for the first time in program history, Shotwell set a school record with 158 tackles. He also had five sacks and two interceptions that season.
Gocong won the award for a 2005 campaign that included a division-leading 23.5 sacks. Beck won the award in 2004 for a season in which he racked up 135 tackles, 5.5 sacks, four interceptions and six forced fumbles.
“It’s crazy to think we were on the field at the same time,” Shotwell said of the 2004 season. “If you look back at that year, we had an amazing defense. We didn’t know exactly how good we were back then. That was a pretty exciting time to be playing defense at Cal Poly.”
Cal Poly has reached new heights since head coach Rich Ellerson’s arrival in 2001. His double-eagle flex defensive scheme, which looks like everything from a 3-4 to a 5-2 during the course of a game, has helped the Mustangs become a mainstay in the national rankings. Cal Poly was ranked as high as No. 3 in I-AA each of the past two years and closed this season ranked 15th.
Shotwell said what might make him most proud is the reaction he received Thursday from coaches from around the nation.
“It’s great for Cal Poly football the way people respect our team and the players on our team,” Shotwell said. “Nationally, it’s incredible meeting the coaches from UMass and Appalachian State who said, ‘I love watching you and your teammates. Keep doing what you guys are doing.’ People are watching us and not just the schools we play against. That makes me proud because coach ‘E’ has instilled that in us. We’ve bought into it and people are seeing it nationally.”
Created in 1995 by The Sports Network, the Buchanan Award was named after former Grambling State and Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Buck Buchanan, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It has since been won by NFL stars Dexter Coakley (1995-96), Edgerton Hartwell (2000), Rashean Mathis (2002) and Jared Allen (2003).
Both Beck and Gocong were chosen in the third round of the NFL Draft, Beck by the Atlanta Falcons and Gocong by the Philadelphia Eagles. Both suffered season-ending injuries during preseason of their rookie years and wound up on injured reserve, but Beck has since recovered and has 12 tackles as a second-string linebacker this season.
Shotwell said he hopes to parlay the honor into an NFL career.
“I believe that I am an NFL-caliber player,” Shotwell said. “I’m going to have some opportunities. I really think that I deserve that shot and I’ll get that shot.”
Shotwell’s agent, Ryan Tollner, is part of a Rep1 Sports Group whose clients include Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Washington Redskins quarterback Mark Brunell, Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle Leonard Davis, Oakland Raiders linebacker Kirk Morrison and Beck, among others.
Also on Thursday, Shotwell, free safety Kenny Chicoine and defensive tackle Chris White, all seniors, were each named to The Associated Press All-America Teams.
Shotwell was voted to the second team and Chicoine (63 tackles, five interceptions) and White (30 tackles, five sacks, nine hurries) were named to the third team, respectively.
On Tuesday, White was the only Great West Football Conference player to be named to the American Football Coaches Association All-America Team.
“We had some special guys on defense,” Shotwell said. “We knew that coming into the season and those guys definitely lived up to their reputations. I know that a lot of my individual success goes to those guys playing around me.”