Kingsville, Texas - Urbana seniors Bill Nickel and Travis Brisco and Indianapolis senior Eric Quintana have been invited to compete at the 2011 Cactus Bowl on Jan. 7 in Kingsville, Texas. The event, held at Texas A&M-Kingville's Javalina Stadium, will feature 88 of the top seniors in the country.
The Cactus Bowl, established in 1994 as the Snow Bowl, is in its 17th year as a Division II all-star game and has been held in Kingsville for the past 11 seasons. Nickel will compete for the Blue Devils and Quintana and Brisco will participate for the Red Devils in the contest which is slated to kickoff at 7 p.m. CT.
Nickell earns the Cactus Bowl nod after starting every game at center for Urbana over the past two seasons. The 6-2, 260-pound Celina, Ohio-native was named to the Great Lakes Football Conference's First Team, as well as the Conference's All-Academic Team. OhioCollegeFootball.com recently named him Second Team All-Ohio, and D2Football.com named him to the First Team All-Independent squad.
The four-year letter winner played a prominent role on an offense that set single season school records for points (355), points per game (32.3) and total yards (4,269) in 2010. Nickell was also a member of the offensive line that helped Blue Knight running backs set school records for career rushing yards (3,346), single season rushing yards (1,145), as well as the top-three single game rushing performances (268, 226, and 224 yards).
Brisco, a Columbus, Ohio native, is no stranger to post-season accolades. The fifth-year linebacker has already been named Defensive Player of the Year by the GLFC, OhioCollegeFootball.com and D2Football.com. He also earned First Team All-Region in one of the toughest regions in the country, and was tabbed a Daktronics All-American.
Brisco completed his career at Urbana University as the school's all-time leader in quarterback sacks (48), tackles for loss (80.0) and forced fumbles (15). He led the nation in all three categories this season, racking up 16 sacks, 28.5 tackles for loss, and 7 forced fumbles. All three of those marks were also single season Urbana records.
A pass-rush specialist at heart, the 6-1, 240-pound linebacker began his career as a defensive end at Urbana, tallying a then school-record 13 sacks as a red shirt freshman. He earned First Team All-Conference recognition as a defensive end that first season. The next year as a sophomore, Brisco converted to linebacker and raised his total tackles from 38 to team-best 84. As he became more comfortable in his new role, his total tackles increased to 110 his junior year. He tied his single season mark for sacks that season with 13, while leading the country in all divisions with 27 tackles for a loss. Brisco has garnered some attention from NFL scouts, and an appearance in Division II's premiere all-star showcase will give him one more opportunity to display his skills for teams at the next level.Quintana, a 6-foot-3, 292-pound offensive lineman helped the Greyhounds to a 6-5 record in 2010, while Nickel and Brisco keyed Urbana
Senior offensive lineman Quintana started a whopping 44 games in his time at UIndy, mostly at left tackle. At 6-foot-3, 292 pounds, he helped the UIndy offense attain nearly 5,000 passing yards over the previous two seasons combined. The Plymouth, Ind. native earned All-GLIAC Honorable Mention as a sophomore in 2007 as the Greyhounds rushed for over 2,000 yards and set a new school record for points scored. He also started 11 games at tackle as a redshirt freshman in 2006 while helping running back Craig Jenkins break the school's single-season rushing mark.
Quintana joins four other former Greyhounds to play in the event. Kevin Kreinhagen, a quarterback, played in the 1998 Snow Bowl while linebacker Josh Gentry was named the Snow Bowl's Defensive MVP the following year. Later, wideout Cesare Manning (2003) and center Tim Dury (2009) participated in the all-star game after its move to Kingsville in 2001.
For more information on the Cactus Bowl including links to the live broadcast, highlights, statistics and more, visit cactusbowl.org.
*Urbana and Indianapolis will both compete in the innaugural GLVC football season in 2012.