DeKALB, Ill. – It’s official. Northern Illinois University defensive end Sutton Smith is a 2017 Consensus All-American, as determined by the NCAA and announced Thursday. Smith joins NIU Athletics Hall of Famer LeShon Johnson, a unanimous Consensus All-American at running back in 1993, as the only Huskies to receive the distinction in school history.
To be selected as a Consensus All-American, a player must be named to the first team of at least two of the five selected All-America teams, announced over the last week by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Associated Press, Football Writer’s Association of America (FWAA), The Sporting News and Walter Camp Foundation. Second team selections are used to break ties. Players who earned the honor were listed on the most first team All-America teams, competing against players at that position only.
Smith is actually one of five defensive linemen on the 2017 Consensus All-America team as he and Maurice Hurst of Michigan tied for the final spot. N.C. State’s Bradley Chubb, Washington State’s Hercules Mata’afa and Ed Oliver of Houston were the other defensive line selections.
The St. Charles, Mo. native was named a first team All-American by Walter Camp and the FWAA, and was a second team selection on the AP, AFCA and Sporting News teams. He and Johnson are the only NIU players to be named to either the first or second unit of all five teams.
NIU Head Coach Rod Carey said Smith embodies the “Smart, Tough, Relentless” play that the Huskies set out to exhibit this year.
“Our defense this year has been disruptive, they play fast and they play aggressive and Sutton exemplifies that in everything he does,” Carey said. “Whether getting around a [offensive] lineman or having to deal with a back or a tight end and a tackle, he is a great example of the relentless way our defense went about its business, along with being smart and tough. We were definitely a defensive-led football team this year, and we’re going to need that in the bowl.”
Carey credited Smith’s hard work with getting him to the milestones he reached this year as he destroyed the 33-year-old NIU record for tackles for loss in a season to lead the country with 28.5, and broke the Huskies’ single season sack record with 14, also tops in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
“I think Sutton’s a reflection of our entire team from the standpoint of how personally we took things last year,” Carey said. “In him you see the determination and the grit, the hard work and the sacrifice he needed, first to put himself in position to walk out there as the starter this season, and then to make all the plays he did. Those are the characteristics of this team; we have one more game and we need that same mindset as we prepare for the bowl game.”
Carey said Smith’s accolades are the direct result of his effort and his attitude, and have helped him reach historic levels in NIU history
“It is a little amazing to think of LeShon and Sutton as the only NIU players to achieve this honor, but when you watch Sutton work every day, going back to last winter, I haven’t been shocked because he’s put in the work,” he said. “I think [Sutton’s] selection [as a Consensus All-American] also speaks volumes to the program we have created in the last five years and to how we have been able to develop players. If you look at the All-Americans we have had in the last five years in Jordan Lynch, Jimmie Ward, Shawun Lurry along with Tommylee Lewis – it’s the best stretch of years with players earning All-America honors in NIU history.”
Smith is the fourth NIU player – joining Lynch, Ward and Lurry – to garner first team All-America recognition in the last five seasons, surpassing the total number of Huskie All-Americans in the school’s FBS history. He is the most decorated defensive player in NIU Football history and in addition to the five All-America teams mentioned above, was selected to six more All-America squads by various media organizations.
The 2017 MAC Defensive Player of the Year was also a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award as the nation’s best defensive end. He needs 3.5 tackles for loss to tie the NCAA single season record of 32, set by Western Michigan’s Jason Babin in 2003. He and the Huskies will close out the season in the 2017 Quick Lane Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit when they take on Duke on Tuesday, Dec. 26.
