Eight wins, the second postseason berth in the last three seasons and a prestigious national award highlighted the 2017 Arkansas Tech University football season.
Fifth-year head coach Raymond Monica directed the Wonder Boys to an 8-4 overall record and an 8-3 mark in Great American Conference play. Arkansas Tech earned a bid to the 2017 Agent Barry Live United Bowl in Texarkana after it finished tied for second in the GAC standings.
Senior quarterback Ty Reasnor captured the top honor among several postseason awards that were bestowed upon the Wonder Boys.
Reasnor was named the 2017 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) NCAA Division II Academic All-American of the year in recognition of his performance on the field and in the classroom.
The Cashion, Okla., product completed 62.2 percent of his passes during his senior season, the highest single-season completion percentage in ATU football history. Reasnor’s 21 touchdown passes in 2017 are fourth-most in a single season in school history. He passed for 2,483 yards during his final season in the green and gold, fifth-most by a Wonder Boy in a single season all-time.
Four Wonder Boys — junior offensive lineman Trey Bradley, junior linebacker KJ Reid, junior defensive back Cua’ Rose and senior kick return specialist Braden Stringer — were named to the 2017 NCAA Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association All-Super Region 3 first team.
They were joined on the 2017 All-GAC first team by ATU teammates Cornelius Dortch, a junior special teams performer from Lucedale, Miss.; and Chris Eastburn, a junior fullback from Pearcy.
Reasnor, senior punter Clayton Watson of Green Forest and senior place kicker Eric Perez of Green Forest were named 2017 All-GAC second team. Stringer was named All-GAC second team as a running back.
A pair of Arkansas Tech wide receivers — junior Jackob Dean of Norman, Okla., and senior Tevin McKenzie of Mobile, Ala. — were named All-GAC honorable mention.
In addition to the awards, several Wonder Boys reached milestones and broke records in 2017.
Running back Bryan Allen will enter his senior season in 2018 with 2,711 career rushing yards, fifth-most in school history. The Wonder Boys’ career rushing record is 3,603 yards, which was established by Larry Brown from 1968-71.
Rose intercepted five passes in 2017 to push his career total to 12 interceptions, third-most in Tech history, with one season of eligibility remaining. The school record for career interceptions is held by Roy Eoff, who made 19 interceptions from 1968-70.
Stringer completed his ATU career with 3,815 career all-purpose yards. It is the third-highest career total in that category in school history.
Perez finished with 259 career points — most by a kicker in school history — a school-record 148 made career point after touchdown kicks and 37 career made field goals — second-most in Tech history.
Photographed: Arkansas Tech head football coach Raymond Monica posed for a photo with his 2017 Wonder Boys senior players on the occasion of their final home game on Nov. 11. They are: (back row, left-to-right) Stephen Watson, Myron Pruitt, Jerry Ewing, Byron Pruitt, Clayton Watson, Seth Culp, Eric McPherson, Royce Finley, Andrew Craig, Eric Perez, Ty Reasnor; (front row, left-to-right) Brady Barbay, Jarrett Clayton, Toriaun Samuels, Mike Sherwood, Braden Stringer, Tevin McKenzie, J.V. Davis, Joshua Qualls and Carson Ayers.
