WACO, TX – The American Football Coaches
Association (AFCA) has named Williams left offensive tackle John
Szawlowski (Hatfield, MA/Northampton HS) an AFCA NCAA Division III
First Team All-American.
Szawlowski is the first Eph since LB Graham Goldwasser in 2003 to
be honored as an AFCA NCAA Division III First Team
All-American.
Szawlowski was a three-year starter and three-year All-NESCAC First
Team selection for the Ephs. Previously he was named to the New
England Football Writers Division II-III All Star Team in both 2007
and 2008, named to the 2008 D3footbal.com All-East First Team, 2008
D3football.com All-American Second Team, and to the
ECAC-Northeast First Team in 2007. The 2008 ECAC-Northeast team has
not been released yet.
With Szawlowski at left tackle the Ephs were 20-4 and in his 24
starts he allowed just three sacks while protecting the Ephs Qb's
blind side. "John really worked hard his whole career," said Eph
head coach Mike Whalen. "Physically he was ready to play as a first
year, but mentally with all the new schemes he saw coming into
college it was an adjustment. He worked hard to understand the game
with a lot of time spent watching film with older guys like Chris
Kenney and Mike Brown so by the time he was a sophomore he was
ready to play."
Szawlowski and his classmates completed a sweep of Amherst with a
24-23 win in Amherst and secured a fourth straight Little Three
title as well. Despite his overwhelming proficiency at left tackle,
the scary thought is Szawlowski played out of position. "We played
him at LT because we had to, but his best position would've been at
guard," noted Whalen. "He does not have long arms so sometimes
defenders can get in on him as a tackle, but his strength and
footwork helped him get the job done. We stuck him at LT to protect
our quarterback from the blind side, but we also changed our
schemes to fit his strengths and sort of made him a pulling tackle
on occasion."
Asked his reaction to being named an AFCA All-American the
soft-spoken Szawlowski said, " I'm not fully sure what it means
just yet. I know it is a real honor to receive this award. I am
still kind of shocked that I was named one... I thought the email
was a joke at first. All-American is something I didn't
really expect. I was always just trying to get better and
everything off the field is out of your control.
"It is a great honor but I love football because it is a team
sport. I think this award will help me to remember this past season
and all the guys on our team. Football is a team sport and without
everyone putting forth the effort none of us could be successful. I
was fortunate to have guys like Moe [Brian Morrissey], [Pat] Lucey,
[Patrick] Moffitt, and the rest of the o-line around me, it made my
job a lot easier.
"We put forward two players from NESCAC for consideration as
All-Americans and John was the unanimous choice as the best lineman
in the conference," commented Whalen. "Oftentimes a senior plays
his last game and he just walks away and you don't see him again
until Homecoming the next year, but John and his brother Henry have
already told all of the returning linemen that they will be running
film sessions over Winter Study."
"John's work ethic was outstanding. Every single day he delivered
the same consistent effort. He never had a bad practice in four
years and he wouldn't let anyone else have one either," Whalen
emphasized.
