Panther football players named preseason All-Americans

Two EIU football players have been named preseason All-Americans by Lindy’s Football Magazine. Senior linebacker Donald Thomas and senior wide receiver Micah Rucker were given the distinction by the publication earlier this week. Thomas was named Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year after leading the Panthers with 127 tackles including 49 solo tackles and 12 tackles for loss and one sack over 13 games during the 2006 season. Thomas was named a first team preseason All-American. Rucker scored 13 touchdowns last season and also completed 49 catches for 966 yards. He ranked 28th in the nation in receiving yards per game with 74 and was the first Panther receiver to have more than 800 yards receiving in a season since 1986. Rucker was given second team preseason All-American honors. In addition, Lindy’s also picked EIU to win their third straight OVC championship, and were picked to finish 19th in the preseason Top 25 poll.

Former EIU football players in UIF

Three Eastern alums are currently playing for the Sioux City Bandits, an indoor minor league football team. Mike Donato, B.J. Brown and Andre Raymond are all on the roster for the Sioux City, Iowa team. The Bandits are part of the United Indoor Football league and compete nationally. Donato is a former EIU quarterback who graduated in 2007. Brown graduated Eastern last year and played Corner Back for the Panthers. Raymond played running back at Eastern and graduated The Bandits next game is this Saturday against the Evansville Bluecats.

Wrestling to be discussed at upcoming Board of Trustees meeting

The EIU wrestling team and its supporters are inviting fans and anyone interested to attend the upcoming meeting of the EIU Board of Trustees. The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. Monday in the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. The recent decision to discontinue the wrestling program at Eastern will be discussed at the meeting and members of the community are encouraged to come participate. Director of Athletics Rich McDuffie announced his decision to cut the program on May 17, citing poor Academic Performance Rate (APR) over the past three years and its possible effect on EIU athletics as a whole. The decision has angered many players and fans that view the decision as unnecessary and harsh, arguing that the APR was created to improve academic performance of student-athletes in the NCAA, not to cut programs.