Tiffin, Ohio – December 6, 2010 – Freshman tailback Germany Woods (Cleveland, Ohio / St. Edwards) of the Heidelberg University football team has been voted the OhioCollegeFootball.com Co-Freshman of the Year for NCAA Division III institutions that sponsor football in the state of Ohio. Woods shares the honor with Richard Barners of the College of Wooster.
Joining Woods as OCF honorees is the senior trio of quarterback Andrew Miller (Dalton, Ohio / Dalton), wide receiver Mike Preston (Euclid, Ohio / Euclid) and right guard Nate Kater (Villa Hills, Ky. / Covington Catholic). The group earned a spot on the offensive first team.
In his inaugural campaign, Woods ran for 1,034 yards to mark the first 1,000 yard rusher since 2002. His postseason honor from the OCF joins his spot on the Ohio Athletic Conference Second Team. Woods rushed for over 100 yards in each of the final four games of the season .His year ending streak began with a career-best 231 yards and four touchdowns against Marietta College. The four rushing TD’s tied the single game record at the Berg.
Miller will graduate as the OAC’s Bob Packard Most Outstanding Offensive Back and OAC First Team recognition. This season he set new single game records at Heidelberg and in the OAC for passing yards (569) and net yards (587). He also set the Heidelberg single game record for passing TD’s (7) and tied the completions mark of 30. This year he threw for 27 touchdowns to top the single season record at the Berg for the third year in a row. Finally he topped the career mark for passing touchdowns with 67.
Preston also earned the Ed Sherman Most Outstanding Receiver award from the OAC, as well as his nod on the All-OAC First Team. In his final campaign, Preston inked his named across the Heidelberg record book. In the career annual, he set new marks for receiving yards with 2,748 and receiving touchdowns with 27. This year he hauled in 15 TD passes for a new single season record at Heidelberg and had 1,213 total receiving yards on the year to top another category.
Kater is completing a four-year career on the offensive line in which he started every game he appeared in. His OCF honor comes on the heels of being tabbed the OAC’s Ken Wable Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman. Heidelberg had one of the most veteran offenses in the league this season and it combined to set, and or tie, 20 individual and team records at the Berg. The success of the offense was due large in part to a solid offensive line that was anchored by Kater.