| Eric Sanders |
|
|
Eric Sanders - Walter Payton Award Candidate Flyer in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Cedar Rapids Gazette Story - Sanders Contender for 2007 Payton Award in PDF Format 
Walter Payton Award Runner-Up - 2007
Gateway Offensive Player of the Year - 2007
Third Team All-American by Associated Press - 2007
Honorable Mention All-American by The Sports Network - 2007
Second Team All-American by CollegeSportsReport.com - 2005
First Team All-Gateway - 2007
Second Team All-Gateway - 2005, 2006
Gateway Freshman of the Year - 2004
Panther Point: Led the Panthers to 12 fourth-quarter/overtime victories in his career ... posted a 35-9 mark as a starter ... set the FCS career record for completion percentage (69.59 percent) ... threw one interception in his final 139 pass attempts ... joined the program as a walk-on - just like his head coach Mark Farley ... totaled an FCS-best 1,113 passing yards in the 2005 NCAA FCS playoffs on 87-of-127 passing, which included seven touchdowns.
2007: Served as a team captain for the second consecutive season ... an honorable mention preseason pick on the All-Gateway squad ... passed for 295 yards on 24-of-31 attempts in a 41-14 victory over Minnesota State, Mankato (8/30) ... accounted for all three touchdowns in a 24-13 win over Iowa State (9/8) ... threw for 180 yards on 23-of-29 passing including a pair of scores to Johnny Gray and Victor Williams as well as running for an 8-yard touchdown in the victory over the Cyclones ... connected on 27-of-32 passes for 330 yards in leading UNI to a 31-17 win at South Dakota State (9/15) ... hit on 19 consecutive passes against the Jackrabbits - one away from the FCS record ... passed for 167 yards and a touchdown as well as ran for 30 yards and a touchdown in a 45-7 win at Drake (9/22) ... led the Panthers to a 23-13 road win over No. 16-ranked Illinois State ... his 5-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Allen at 5:17 of the gave UNI a 20-13 lead ... guided the Panthers to a 30-24 win over No. 7-ranked Southern Illinois (10/13) with 253 passing yards and a touchdown ... completed all eight passes he threw for 93 yards and a touchdown, while running for two others scores in leading UNI to a 42-3 road win against Western Illinois (10/20) ... notched his 11th fourth quarter victory by leading the Panthers to 14 fourth-quarter points in a 14-13 win over No. 20-ranked Youngstown State (10/27) ... his 28-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Gray ignited the Panthers' fourth-quarter rally ... was responsible for three touchdowns in leading UNI to a 38-17 Gateway clinching victory at Missouri State (11/3) ... passed for 199 yards and two scores, including a 43-yarder to Johnny Gray and a 4-yarder to Schuylar Oordt ... also scored from a yard out on fourth-and-1 on a naked bootleg to provide UNI a two-touchdown cushion at 31-17 in the third quarter ... played only 1 1/2 quarters in a 68-14 win over Indiana State (11/10) ... passed for 178 yards on 9-of-11 passing, including two touchdowns against the Sycamores ... tallied his 12th career fourth quarter/overtime victory in a 38-35 win over New Hampshire (11/24) in the first round of the NCAA FCS playoffs ... hooked up with Montari Leonard on a 24-yard touchdown pass with only seven seconds left to defeat New Hampshire ... passed for 314 yards on 27-of-36 passing against the Wildcats ... passed for 291 yards and a TD against Delaware (12/1).
2006: Started all 11 games at quarterback ... named one of five captains entering fall camp ... second-team all-Gateway Football Conference selection at quarterback ... ranked No. 11 in the nation in passing efficiency (147.37) ... ranked No. 46 in the nation in total offense per game (195.0) ... connected on 20-of-25 passing for 198 yards and a touchdown in the Panthers' 48-7 win at Drake (8/31) ... passed for 208 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-31 loss at home to North Dakota (9/9) ... went 9-of-12 passing and tossed a touchdown pass in a 27-17 win over SDSU (9/16) ... started the Iowa State (9/30) game by completing his first 12 pass attempts ... finished the Iowa State game 23-of-29 passing for 158 yards and a touchdown ... surpassed the 5,000-yard passing mark in a 38-7 win over Missouri State (10/7) ... tossed two touchdowns on 10-of-14 passing against the Bears ... rushed for a season-high 70 yards on six carries and had a rushing score in a 34-14 win at Indiana State (10/14) ... passed for a season-high 291 yards in a 31-23 win at No. 5-ranked Youngstown State (10/21) ... hooked up for three touchdown passes with Johnny Gray (6, 15, 70) against the Penguins ... rallied the Panthers with 21 fourth-quarter points to defeat Western Kentucky (11/4), 31-20 ... his 56-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Allen with 5:03 left in the game gave UNI a 24-20 lead, which it never relinquished ... passed for 204 yards and a touchdown at Southern Illinois (11/11) ... connected on only 6-of-9 passing for 98 yards and a touchdown but led the UNI offense to 413 total yards in a 38-27 victory over No. 6-ranked Illinois State (11/18).
2005: Started 13 games at quarterback ... suffered an ankle injury in first half vs. Missouri State (10/8) and missed the next two games against Indiana State (10/15) and Illinois State (10/22) ... second-team All-America choice by CollegeSportsReport.com ... earned second-team all-Gateway honors ... led the Gateway and ranked No. 5 in the nation in passing efficiency (168.25) ... led the Gateway with 23 touchdown passes ... ranked No. 30 in the nation in total offense (231.38 yards/game)began the season by passing for 289 yards and three touchdowns on 14-of-17 passing in a 52-17 win over Drake (9/1) ... tossed three touchdowns and passed for 311 yards on 12-of-14 passing in a 49-14 win over Minnesota-Duluth (9/10) ... threw three more touchdown passes on 19-of-29 overall passing for 263 yards at Iowa (9/17) ... threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns in a 41-24 win at Western Illinois (10/1) ... rushed for a season-high 85 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown scamper against the Leathernecks ... bounced back from his injured ankle by helping the Panthers to a 21-7 win over No. 11-ranked Youngstown State (10/29) ... knocked off No. 6-ranked Western Kentucky (11/5) in double-overtime with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Justin Surrency ... helped clinch the Gateway Conference title with a come-from-behind 25-24 win over Southern Illinois (11/12) with three fourth-quarter scoring drives (12-62, 7-76, 8-79) ... passed for 272 yards and three touchdowns on 22-of-33 passing against the Salukis ... hooked up with Jamie Goodwin for the game-winning 35-yard touchdown pass on a 4th-and-2 with 2:04 remaining in the game ... outgunned Walter Payton Award winner Erik Meyer of Eastern Washington (11/26) in the first round of the NCAA FCS playoffs as Sanders passed for 330 yards and two touchdowns ... UNI trailed 38-24 with less than 10 minutes to go before Sanders led three scoring drives to clinch the 41-38 victory ... guided the Panthers to a 24-21 victory over No. 1-ranked New Hampshire (12/3) in the I-AA quarterfinals by passing for 185 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown pass to running back David Horne that put UNI up 14-0 early in the second quarter ... continued his heroics in the NCAA semifinals with a 40-37 overtime win at No. 4-ranked Texas State ... he began the game on fire by connecting on his first nine passes for 200 yards and a touchdown ... with 5:01 remaining in the game and the Panthers trailing 37-29, Sanders guided the squad to a 10-play 72-yard touchdown drive ... but still in need of a two-point conversion to tie the game, Sanders rolled right and lofted a pass into the back of the end zone that was snared by Surrency to knot the game at 37-37 with 1:27 left ... he earned I-AA.org All-Star honors and was named the national Offensive Player of the Week by Don Hansen's Football Gazette for his efforts against Texas State ... named preseason second team all-Gateway by I-AA.org, ranked the second-best quarterback in the league ... selected the 13th-best QB in FCS by Matt Dougherty of The Sports Network to begin the season.
2004: Played in nine games and started the last seven after the loss of Tom Petrie to injury ... became just the second freshman dating back to at least 1949 to start for the Panthers ... completed 95-of-150 passes for 1,307 yards and 15 TDs with just five interceptions ... long pass of 74 yards ... season-best 14-of-17 passes for 232 yards vs. Missouri State ... rushed 56 times for 171 yards and three TDs ... long run of 21 yards ... set a school freshman record for passing yards in a season ... finished the season ranked third in the nation in passing efficiency (162.86) and 71st in total offense ... finished the season in eighth place in the Gateway for passing average per game, seventh in total offense and second in pass efficiency ... named Gateway Offensive Player of the Week following the Indiana State game when he completed 11-of-15 passes for 174 yards and four TDs ... named to the Gateway All-Newcomer Team ... selected Gateway Freshman of the Year.
2003: Redshirted.
High School: 2002 first-team Des Moines Register Class 3-A all-state ... Class 3-A Des Moines Register first-team all-state in basketball ... passed for state-record 2,916 yards, 32 TDs and ran for 748 yards and 16 TDs ... averaged 22 points and six assists in basketball ... also played shortstop and was a two-time first team choice by the Iowa Newspaper Association ... hit .532 during the regular season with 14 extra-base hits, including three home runs ... scored 38 runs, drove home 25 and struck out just five times in 77 at bats ... member of National Honor Society ... four-year honor roll student ... member of DECA and band ... high school coach: Jim Yokas.
Personal: Born Sept. 24, 1984, in Oelwein, Iowa ... son of Steve and Barb Sanders ... majoring in business ... nicknamed "Junior" ... coaches eighth and ninth grade baseball during the summer ... enjoys playing poker, video games and golf.
Sanders' Career Passing Stats
Year G-GS Att Com Pct. Yds Int TDs LG HG
2004 9-7 150 95 63.3 1,307 5 15 74 232
2005 13-13 312 213 68.3 2,929 5 23 69 417
2006 11-11 249 169 67.9 1,934 7 15 70 291
2007 13-13 315 237 75.2 2,842 6 17 60 330
Totals 46-44 1,026 714 69.59 9,012 23 70 74 417
Sanders' Game-By-Game Passing Stats
2004 Season
Date/Opponent Att-Comp-Yds (TDs)
9/4 - @Iowa State DNP
9/11 - Minnesota State 5-3-20 (0)
9/18 - Stephen F. Austin DNP
10/2 - @Southern Illinois 13-5-56 (0)
10/9 - Western Kentucky 26-18-205 (1)
10/16 - @Youngstown State 18-9-137 (1)
10/23 - Western Illinois 15-9-120 (2)
10/30 - Missouri State 17-14-232 (2)
11/6 - @Indiana State 15-11-174 (4)
11/13 - Illinois State 14-10-165 (2)
11/20 - @Northern Arizona 27-16-198 (3)
2005 Season
Date - Opponent Att-Comp-Yds (TDs)
9/1 - Drake 17-14-289 (3)
9/10 - Minnesota-Duluth 14-12-311 (3)
9/17 - @Iowa 29-19-263 (3)
10/1 - @Western Illinois 26-18-244 (2)
10/8 - @Missouri State 7-5-31 (0)
10/15 - Indiana State DNP
10/22 - @Illinois State DNP
10/29 - Youngstown State 15-7-73 (0)
11/5 - @Western Kentucky 29-24-235 (1)
11/12 - Southern Illinois 33-22-272 (3)
11/19 - Northern Arizona 15-5-98 (1)
11/26 - Eastern Washington 40-31-330 (2)
12/3 - @New Hampshire 25-15-185 (1)
12/9 - @Texas State 31-24-417 (4)
12/15 - Appalachian State 31-17-181 (0)
2006 Season
Date - Opponent Att-Comp-Yds (TDs)
8/31 - @Drake 20-25-198 (1)
9/9 - North Dakota 18-31-208 (2)
9/16 - South Dakota State 9-12-79 (1)
9/30 - @Iowa State 23-29-158 (1)
10/7 - Missouri State 10-14-161 (2)
10/14 - @Indiana State 13-19-139 (0)
10/21 - @Youngstown State 19-27-291 (3)
10/28 - Western Illinois 20-36-201 (1)
11/4 - Western Kentucky 16-23-197 (1)
11/11 - @Southern Illinois 15-24-204 (1)
11-18 - Illinois State 6-9-98 (1)
2007 Season
Date - Opponent Att-Comp-Yds (TDs)
8/30 - Minnesota State 24-31-295 (1)
9/8 - @Iowa State 23-29-180 (2)
9/15 - @South Dakota State 27-32-330 (0)
9/22 - @Drake 11-14-167 (1)
9/29 - @Illinois State 16-26-166 (2)
10/13 - Southern Illinois 19-26-253 (1)
10/20 - @Western Illinois 8-8-93 (1)
10/27 - Youngstown State 16-20-170 (1)
11/3 - @Missouri State 16-23-199 (2)
11/10 - Indiana State 9-11-178 (2)
11/17 - Southern Utah 15-21-206 (2)
11-24 - New Hampshire 27-36-314 (1)
12/1 - Delaware 26-38-291 (1)
