Tuesday, August 30, 2016

PORTLAND, Ore. - The third of our five GNAC Football Video Preview features Western Oregon.

Picked to finish fourth last year, Western Oregon proved to be the surprise of the conference. After losing three of their first four games, the Wolves came back to win six striaight games, including a 24-22 upset of North Alabama at home, to set up a showdown for the GNAC title with Humboldt State in the final game of the season. The two teams will square off in a nationally televised game on Oct. 22. Western Oregon compiled a 7-4 record despite scoring 24.3 points per game, which ranked fifth among the GNAC’s seven teams.

Western Oregon returns a number of key players on offense and defense, but will look to fill key holes at quarterback, kicker and punter. The offense and special teams will be paced by junior Paul Revis, who was selected All-GNAC at three different positions and a Third Team All-American by the Don Hansen committee as a return specialist. At wide receiver, Revis caught 44 passes for 710 yards and six touchdowns. In the return game, Revis returned 20 punts for an average of 12.1 yards per return and two touchdowns to go along with 17 kickoff returns for 22.5 yards per return.

Senior receiver Wesley Gray caught 21 passes for 251 yards and is expected to have a bigger role in the offense in 2016. The same is true for sophomore running back Malik Braxton, who finished with 634 rushing yards and four touchdowns. The Wolves also return 2015-16 GNAC Male Athlete of the Year Andy Avgi, who was named First Team All-GNAC at tight end in his first season of collegiate football.

Senior defensive lineman George Swartzlender leads a list of returning defensive starters after he finished 2015 with 51 tackles, including 9.5 for loss and a fumble recovery. Second Team All-GNAC linebacker Tyler Johnson added 64 tackles, the most among WOU returners, with six tackles for loss and three sacks.

GNAC 2016 FOOTBALL VIDEO PREVIEW SCHEDULE
Sun., Aug. 28: Simon Fraser
Mon., Aug. 29: Central Washington
Tues., Aug. 30: Western Oregon
Wed., Aug. 31: Azusa Pacific
Thurs., Sept. 1: Humboldt State