Football | 11/25/2015 2:11:00 PM
Moon Township, Pa. – Redshirt freshman wide receiver
Kyle Buss of the
Robert Morris University football team took home a major postseason honor to headline a quintet of Colonials that earned all-league accolades from the Northeast Conference (NEC) as announced by the organization Wednesday afternoon via Twitter.
Buss was selected as the NEC Offensive Rookie of the Year after a record-breaking debut season. He is the fifth Colonial to win this award, the most by one school in league history.
A trio of Colonial defenders garnered All-NEC First Team awards as redshirt junior cornerback
Marcelis Branch, redshirt senior defensive lineman
Forrest Mason and redshirt senior linebacker
Mike Stojkovic were each honored.
Junior defensive back
Andy Smigiera and Buss earned spots on the All-NEC Second Team.
Buss' major award comes just two days after he was the lone NEC athlete to be named as a finalist for the
STATS National Freshman Player of the Year award. Buss has surpassed at least six RMU freshman records en route to this selection, and his accomplishments have not been far off past Colonial greats, freshman or otherwise. Buss finished the season with 50 receptions for 742 yards, an average of 14.8 per reception. He ranks second nationally in the FCS in receiving yards among freshmen and third among rookies in receptions per game (4.55). He became just the third Colonial ever to catch at least 50 passes in a season and is also only the third to surpass 700 receiving yards in a year. Buss became the first Colonial ever to catch at least nine passes more than once in a season, and he was the fourth Colonial, and second rookie, to post at least three 100-yard receiving efforts in a season. During the 2015 campaign, Buss topped previous RMU rookie bests for single-season receptions, single-season receiving yards, single-season receptions per game, single-game receptions, single-game receiving yards and longest reception. Buss put together his noteworthy rookie season even though RMU faced four of the best 16 teams in the FCS in regard to passing efficiency defense.
Buss becomes the first Colonial rookie to be named all-conference since Branch was in 2012 and the first Colonial all-league rookie on offense since 2002.
Branch led the RMU secondary, and was third on the team, with a career-best 63 tackles in 2015, including notching 35 solo stops. He ranked among the top 20 overall in the NEC in tackles while making 33 of his hits on run coverage. He added 2.0 tackles for loss, three pass breakups and an interception on the campaign. He posted a season high 12 tackles against Dayton, a squad bound for the FCS playoffs. Branch was a major reason why Colonial opponents completed just 50.2% of their passes in 2015, a mark nearly 11% below the national median. He also helped limit RMU foes to just 11.6 yards per completion this past season, the second best mark in program history.
This is Branch's second career All-NEC honor but his first of the first team variety.
Mason entered into an elite group in RMU history with his selection to an all-league team for the third time. He posted career highs in tackles (60), tackles for loss (11.0) and sacks (6.5) this season. He was second in the league in tackles/game among defensive linemen (5.5), tied for third overall in the NEC in sacks and was among the top 10 in TFL. Mason added a team-leading 12 quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and also returned his first career interception for a touchdown. He tied career highs in both tackles (9) and sacks (2.5) in a win over East Tennessee State earlier this month. Mason concluded his Colonial career tied for fifth in all-time sacks (16.0).
Mason is just the 13th Colonial to earn at least three All-NEC awards in a career but only the third to accomplish the feat as a defensive lineman.
Stojkovic was at the center of the Colonial defense from his inside linebacker spot. He tied for the league lead in tackles (93) while contributing 41 solo hits. It was the second straight season in which he was among the top five in the NEC in tackles. The veteran added 9.5 tackles for loss, eight pass breakups, a 44-yard fumble recovery and five quarterback hurries. He also forced three fumbles, a mark which led the NEC. Stojkovic hit double digits in tackles in more than half of the games in 2015. One of his finest efforts came at nationally ranked Youngstown State when he contributed 11 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, while forcing a fumble and breaking up a pass. He tallied 193 tackles, including 21 for losses, in his 26 games in a Colonial uniform.
Smigiera takes home his first all-league accolade after starting all 11 games at weak safety. He posted 62 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, three interceptions, eight pass breakups and a forced fumble in 2015. He ranked among the top 20 overall in the league in tackles/game and tied for third in the NEC in passes defended. Smigiera also blocked a RMU single-season record three kicks on the season. He notched an interception at No. 6 South Dakota State and posted eight tackles, two pass breakups and a blocked kick Oct. 10 vs. Sacred Heart.
Robert Morris has had at least one All-NEC honoree at defensive back in each of the last 10 seasons. No other league school has such an active streak longer than four years. However, this is the first year in which two Colonials were honored at the position since 2010.
All of the Colonial defenders honored helped the squad to a number of impressive marks including ranking among the top 25 in the FCS in total defense, tackles for loss, sacks, passing efficiency defense, fewest passing yards allowed, third down defense and fourth down defense.
With today's announcements, Colonials have now earned 10 NEC honors at wide receiver, 21 on the defensive line, 21 at linebacker and 26 in the defensive backfield in program history.
