Jan. 16, 2009
EASTON, Pa. - Senior LB Andy Romans continues to pile up postseason awards, earning a spot on the ECAC Football FCS All-Star Team. Romans joined Maine's Jovan Belcher as the only players to make the list in consecutive years. The Patriot League has placed at least two players on the ECAC All-Star team in each of its 23 seasons and Lafayette has had a representative for the fourth straight year.
The honor follows a December 17 naming to the Associated Press (AP) All-America Second Team and College Sporting News honorable mention. He also achieved a second-team spot on the 2008 Sports Network All-America Team, announced Jan. 7. Romans adds his latest honor to Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year selections in 2007 and 2008 and three All-Patriot League namings.
In his final season on College Hill, the linebacker made 96 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries and one blocked kick for the Leopards, who finished 7-4 overall and 3-3 in Patriot League play. The History major guided a 2008 Lafayette defense that placed first in the Patriot League and in the top 20 nationally in rushing, total and scoring defense. Romans finishes his career with three All-Patriot League selections and 326 total tackles, good for 10th place among active FCS players.
Romans earned Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honors three times in 2008, coming in consecutive weeks from Oct. 6-20. He received both the Defensive and Special Teams Player of the Week honors on Oct. 20, as he recorded 12 tackles and a blocked punt that he returned for a touchdown in Lafayette's 35-21 win at No. 14 Liberty on Oct. 18. He was also named a National All-Star by College Sporting News for that performance.
Romans, who just finished the fall semester while taking three history courses and an African studies class, is scheduled to graduate in May with plans of pursuing a career in professional football.
The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is the nation's largest athletic conference and only multi-divisional conference, with 321 member institutions and over 122,000 student-athletes ranging across 16 states from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Illinois. The ECAC honors more than 2,500 student-athletes during the academic year through its all-star and player of the week programs. Each week, the conference has recognized 12 football players of the week, including offensive and defensive, in the Football Championship Subdivision (I-AA), Division II, and Division III (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest Regions).
