Three Cardinals named to Don Hansen All-Super Region Three Team

Three Cardinals named to Don Hansen All-Super Region Three Team

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BROOKFIELD, Ill. -- The Don Hansen Football Committee has released the 2018 Don Hansen NCAA Division II All-Super Region Three squad today (Jan. 3). Saginaw Valley State University had three student-athletes earn first-team honors for the 2018 season.

Sophomore wide receiver Chad Gailliard, junior defensive tackle Heath Williams and senior linebacker Michael Alexander were named to the All-Super Region Three First Team.

Gailliard earns the honor for the second straight season after earning first-team honors in 2017 and being listed as an all-american honorable mention player by the committee. Chad was named to the D2CCA All-Super Region #3 Second Team at the wide receiver position in 2018, as well as being named All-GLIAC First Team for the second consecutive campaign. He led the league in receiving for the second straight season, tallying GLIAC-best figures in receptions (63), yards (1,005), yards per game (91.4) and touchdowns (12). Gailliard's 1,939 career receiving yards rank him 8th in program history after two seasons and his 20 TD are now 6th. He becomes the 5th receiver to ever net over 1,000 yards in a season

Williams stood-out as one of the top defensive linemen in the league in 2018, registering a GLIAC-best 13 sacks and 19 tackles-for-loss. He ranked 5th on the team with 56 tackles, adding a forced fumble. His 17.5 career sacks move him into the No. 10 spot all-time at Saginaw Valley State University and the 13.5 sacks are the third-best single season figure. Heath was named to the All-GLIAC First Team this year at the defensive line position and earned his first career All-Super Region #3 honor after being named to the D2CCA Second Team.

Alexander garners his first career All-Super Region Three honor after leading the league in tackles (117) and tackles per game (10.6) to round-out his career for the Cardinals. He surpassed the 100-tackle mark for the first time in his career and now ranks 13th all-time in the program's history with 291 stops. Alexander was named the GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week once during the 2018 season. 

The Don Hansen team carries out the legacy of long-time small college football advocate Don Hansen, who passed away at age 75 on Aug. 29, 2010. Hansen, from Brookfield, Ill., started and published Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette for three decades, selecting NCAA Division II All-America teams for the first time in 1988. Don Hansen's Football Gazette began selecting Division II All-Region squads in 2003.

The first-team and second-team All-Region selections advance to a national ballot from which the 2018 Don Hansen NCAA Division II All-America team will be selected.