Wittenberg Football Standouts Named Preseason All-Americans
Monday, July 19th 2010 @ 1:07 PM
Springfield, Ohio – Wittenberg University football standouts Eddie Vallery, class of 2011 from South Solon, Ohio, and Adam Kattoua, class of 2011 from Upper Arlington, Ohio, have been named preseason All-Americans by a pair of publications.
Vallery is a defensive end who became Wittenberg’s first-ever d3football.com Defensive Player of the Year in 2009, while Kattoua is a defensive tackle who earned first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) and second-team All-Great Lakes Region recognition a year ago. Both made preseason All-America lists distributed by Street & Smith’s in June and d3football.com in July.
The honors come after Vallery and Kattoua played key roles in helping the Tigers to their 18th undefeated regular season in school history in 2009. Wittenberg finished the season with a school record-tying 12 wins against just one loss, which came in the NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinals at eventual national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Tigers went 7-0 in the NCAC to win the program’s ninth title in 21 years in the league and advance to their 13th NCAA Division III Tournament since its inception in 1973.
Vallery recorded 73 tackles, including 22 for a loss, which ranks second in school history. He led the NCAC and all of NCAA Division III with 16.5 sacks, in addition to forcing two fumbles and blocking two kicks. He became the first Wittenberg player to earn NCAC Defensive Player of the Year honors since Juan Howard in 2001 before going on to first-team all-region honors and making multiple All-America lists.
Kattoua recorded 49 tackles, including seven for a loss and three sacks. The defensive line mates were part of the nation’s top-ranked unit, which allowed just 8.8 points and 189.9 yards per game in 2009.
The Tigers return seven starters on defense and 14 overall. Wittenberg’s 2010 season opens with a trio of home games against Olivet on Sept. 4, Ohio Wesleyan on Sept. 11 and Washington University on Sept. 18.
News Release By: Ryan Maurer, Wittenberg SID
