Three members of the Wayne State College football team were named to the Don Hansen All-Super Region Four Football Team of 2018. The Hansen football committee released the names of the players on January 15.

Senior wide receiver for WSC, Nate Rogers was named third team offense. Junior defensive end Jacob Protzman was also named in the third team for the defense selection.

Junior linebacker Tyler Thomsen received first team defense honors and will advance to a national ballot for the Don Hansen All-Region 2018 in March. On this ballot, the committee will select the NCAA Division II All-America team.

Rogers had a memorable last season with the wildcats. The wide receiver became the first WSC receiver since Federick Bruno in 2009 to have a 1000 receiving yard season. Rogers led the Wildcats in receiving with seventy catches for 1,009 yards and eleven touchdowns.

“This was my best season at Wayne State, I was able to set records and reach personal goals,” Rogers said. “It was my goal to play the best I could every game and as a result of that I had a good season which led to awards and achievements such as this one.”

Protzman had a single school record this season during the win over Southwest Minnesota State (23-14 win) with five sacks and eight tackles. The junior defensive end from Grimes, Iowa finished the season ranked fourth on the WSC defense with total tackle numbers at 48.

“I was excited and honored to be one of the players to represent WSC on the All-Super region team,” Protzman said.

Protzman was also a South Division Team Selection on defense, after that the defensive end was ranked third in the NSIC this last season, he also received personal recognition when he was named Defensive player of the week on September 10 of 2018.

“I thought my own personal season went very well, I made a lot of plays this season, and I am happy to be recognized for my hard work,” said Protzman.

Tyler Thomsen from Fremont, Nebraska was the leading man during the season for the Wildcats in tackles with 120 and had an average of 10.9 tackles per game. The linebacker received an All-NSIC South Division honorable mention last season but was named this year in the First team All-South Division and D2CCA All super region 4 second team selection.

“My goals to begin this season were to make the All-American team, which would include making the All-Super Region team as well.” Thomsen said. “I knew it would take a lot of hard work and countless hours training and working for my goals. I wanted to bounce back and be stronger than I was the previous season.”

The linebacker said that there is always way for improvement and he would like to have a better season next year with the Wildcats.

“My goals for next season would include fixing some mistakes and just becoming an even better athlete by getting bigger, stronger and faster,” Thomsen said. “I want to be able to help the team in any way possible so the outcome of the season can turn out better.”

As team the wildcats had a tough season, finishing 2-5 in the NSIC South Division and an overall of 3-8 during the 2018 season.

courtesy of Wildcat Athletics