The UW-Whitewater football team is no stranger to putting some of the very best football players on the field each season.
Five of those players were recognized earlier the year by being named to the D3football.com Team of the Decade (2000-2010).
Justin Beaver (2004-2007), Ryan Kleppe (2003-2006) and Jeff Schebler (2006-2009) have been named to the “Team of the 2000s” 1st team.
Justin Beaver ended his career with 6,584 rushing yards (NCAA 11th all-time). In 2007, Beaver rushed for 2,455 yards which at the time was a Division III single season rushing record. The Palmyra native was recipient of the 2007 Gagliardi Trophy symbolic of the top Division III football player (student-athlete) in the nation.
Justin's final game as a Warhawk ended with the UW-Whitewater earning the school’s first NCAA Division III football championship. Beaver rushed for 249 yards and one touchdown and was named the 2007 Stagg Bowl Most Outstanding Player. Justin earned 1st Team All-American recognition in 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Ryan Kleppe earned first-team, all-decade recognition at a defensive tackle. Kleppe was a third team all-american selection as a junior. In his senior season, the Mount Horeb native registered a WIAC single-season record 14.5 quarterback sack and also led the league with 24 tackles for loss.
Ryan had numerous memorable outings. His 3 ½ sack playoff performance against perennial Division III powerhouse St. Johns (Minn), Kleppe received the “blessing” from the Johnnies’ iconic head coach John Gagliardi.
”We couldn’t stop that guy,” Gagliardi said in the postgame press conference following his team’s 17-14 loss to the Warhawks at Perkins Stadium. “Is he a senior? After being told Kleppe was in the final year of his college career Gagliardi quickly responded “thank God!”
Kleppe was one of four finalists for the 2006 Gagliardi Trophy that annually is awarded to the outstanding Division III college football player of the year
As a senior, Kleppe put together one of the most dominating seasons in UW-Whitewater football history. Ryan was named the D3football.com Defensive Player of the Yearand also was named to the AP Little All-American third team Kleppe broke the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record for quarterback sacks as a senior. His 30 career total sacks which ranks third in WIAC history. Kleppe’s 64 total tackles for loss ranks second in WIAC history.
The Mount Horeb native ended his football career by being selected as a member of the 2007 U.S. football team that played in the IAAF World Championship of American Football in the summer of 2007 in Japan.
Also a named as a 1st Team selection on the D3football.com Team of the Decade (2000s) is place-kicker, Jeff Schebler.
Jeff Schelber concluded his Warhawk football career with 462 points - the most of any place-kicker in NCAA history at any level earning the Davenport, Iowa native the 2009 Fred Mitchell Award. Schebler was chosen from nearly 400 eligible place-kickers in Division II and III for excellence on the football field and in the community.
”Scheb’s 462 points surpassed the all-time NCAA mark of 433 by Art Carmody of the University of Louisville (2004-2007). Schebler holds nine UW-Whitewater records and six Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference marks in addition to the NCAA Division III and overall records.
Schebler earned unanimous First Team All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors each of his four years. He has added All-American honors after each season. He was a finalist for the 2009 Gagliardi Trophy, given to the outstanding player in Division III.
Earning spots on the 3rd Team D3football.com All-Decade (2000s) Squad are A.J. Raebel (2004-2007) and Max Sakellaris (2003-2006).
AJ Raebel, a native of Cary, Illinois, was an all-American pick in 2006 and 2007. He is still number one in the UW-W record book in career tackles (359) and solo tackles (193). is also seventh in career assisted tackles (166), and tenth in career sacks (15.5). His 2007 totals of 77 solo tackles and 111 total tackles rank fourth and ninth, respectively, in the school record book. Raebel's totals for career tackles and career tackles for a loss rank fourth and sixth, respectively, all-time in the WIAC.
Offensive tackle Max Sakellaris put together a career synonymous of the Warhawk football’s pound the rock attitude.
A four-year starter under the tutelage UWW offensive line coach Steve Dinkel, Sakellaris earned 1st Team All-WIAC honors as a sophomore, junior and senior. He was a unanimous 1st Team All-Conference Selection in 2005 and 2006.
Sakellaris earned All-American recognition in both 2005 and 2006. He played a key role in blocking for Beaver, and his 2006 unit helped the Warhawks average 4.6 yards per rush, 403.2 yards per game, and 36.1 points per game in 2006. That group also gave up just 11 sacks in fifteen games. The 2005 offensive line generated 41.1 points per game, 5.0 yards per rush, and 491.1 yards per game, while limiting sacks to 13 over the 15 game schedule.
As a senior, Max was named Division III National Offensive Lineman of the Year by the Don Hansen Football Gazette.
To view D3football.com's All-Decade team CLICK HERE
To be eligible for inclusion onto the All-Decade Team, an athlete must have completed his eligibility no later than 2010. A player such as Levell Coppage won’t be eligible until the next All-Decade Team is selected.
The five previously mentioned Warhawks are just the “tip of the “iceberg” when talking about success as a student athlete in the UW-Whitewater football program. 40 Warhawks earned All-American honors in the decade of the 2000’s. Many of those were honored a multiple teams – multiple years.
It is just another reason that the motto UW-Whitewater Warhawk football, Powered by Tradition is much more than “just a motto.
Who were the Warhawks that drew strong consideration for inclusion on the All-Decade team? A story will be coming up answering that question later this week here on voiceseyeonfootball.blogspot.com.
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