Seniors Buster Ashley and Charles Thompson were named to the I-AA.org All-Star Team, while the two were selected to the CollegeSportsReport.com’s All-America teams along with Brian Claybourn and Antonio Thomas. Ashley was a second-team CollegeSportsReport.com choice, Thomas picked up third-team honors with Claybourn and Thompson earning honorable mention accolades.
Ashley, a 6-foot-4, 300-pound offensive lineman, has been selected first-team All-America by three other organizations this postseason — the American Football Coaches Association, Walter Camp Foundation and the Associated Press. In his final year on the Hill, the Owensboro, Ky., native graded out at 97 percent overall with 159 pancake blocks while not allowing a sack on 222 pass attempts. He was a first-team all-Gateway Conference choice for the third straight year, and twice collected the league’s Offensive Lineman-of-the-Week award in 2004.
Thompson was a first-team all-league selection last fall after posting 99 stops, including eight for loss, in his final season on the Hill. The 6-foot-1, 240-pound Louisville, Ky., resident earned conference Player-of-the-Week honors twice last season, picking up The Sports Network’s national award after recording a career-best 18 tackles, including 2.5 behind the line of scrimmage, in Western’s Sept. 18 victory at rival Eastern Kentucky.
He was one of 16 finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award given to the top defensive player in I-AA football.
After averaging a school season-record 43.4 yards per punt in 2004, Claybourn was named third-team All-America by The Sports Network and AP as well as first-team all-conference for the second straight year. A 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior from Evansville, Ind., he ranked fourth in the country in punting average, helping the Hilltoppers finish seventh nationally in the category. Claybourn also broke the school game record after averaging 52 yards per punt at I-A Kansas State in the season opener while also finishing second all-time at WKU in punts, total yards and yards per punt.
A 6-foot-2, 200-pound Louisville resident, Thomas tied for the lead in the Gateway and ranked ninth nationally after intercepting a career-best seven passes. He was a third-team Sports Network All-American and first-team all-league choice after adding eight passes defended, which ranked in the top 30 nationally. Thomas led all league cornerbacks with 75 total stops, which included 3.5 for loss.
Western finished 9-3 with a 6-1 mark in the Gateway last year, advancing to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs for the fifth straight season.
