KLOBUCHER CHOSEN AS 2006 RECIPIENT OF JACK H. MCAVOY AWARD

Senior Becomes Third Ferris State Player To Receive The GLIAC Honor

*2006 GLIAC Jack H. McAvoy Award Release* PDF

Ferris State University's Mike Klobucher (Grand Haven/North Muskegon) continues adding to his impressive list of 2006 postseason honors as the senior middle linebacker has been selected as the recipient of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's (GLIAC) Jack H. McAvoy Award for the 2006 season in an announcement made Tuesday (Dec. 5) by GLIAC Commissioner Tom Brown.

The award is presented annually to the GLIAC football player who best combines outstanding character and leadership on the field, in the classroom, and in the community.

Klobucher, who was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Football First Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) last Thursday (Nov. 30), joins former Bulldog gridiron standouts Mo Harris (1999) and Chris Pulliams (1996) as McAvoy Award honorees. The Award is named for former Hillsdale College Athletics Director and Head Football Coach Jack H. McAvoy, who was instrumental in the founding of the Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference (MIFC), now known as the GLIAC.

An applied biology major, Klobucher is presently a finalist for the prestigious Draddy Trophy which is presented annually to the nation's top college football scholar-athlete. The three-time (2004-06) GLIAC All-Academic Team pick and was among 17 college football players nationwide to receive a 2006 National Football Foundation (NFF) $18,000 postgraduate scholarship. A two-time (2005-06) ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV selection, Klobucher has also been the football team's recipient of the FSU President's Academic Award the last two seasons (2005-06) as a result of compiling the team's highest grade point average after being a co-winner of the award the two previous years (2003-04). Klobucher is also involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, volunteered at the Guiding Light Mission and worked at Rescue Mission in the Muskegon (Mich.) community.

The 6-2, 248-pound defensive co-captain was Ferris State's leading tackler for the third consecutive season as a result of accumulating 92 total tackles (47 solos) in 10 games this fall. Klobucher, a 2006 All-GLIAC First Teamer and twice (2005-06) FSU's Most Valuable Player, finished his four-year career ranking seventh among the school's all-time tackles leaders with 389 career stops (206 solos) in 42 contests.

Klobucher played an instrumental role in guiding Ferris State to an 8-3-0 overall record this season, which represented the program's best mark since 1996 (10-2-0 overall). The eight victories were also five more than in the previous campaign (2005 -- 3-8-0 overall).