Release: Monmouth College Office of Sports Information

MONMOUTH, Ill. - The D3 Football Senior Classic All-Star Game is the latest to honor a pair of Monmouth College athletes by naming them preseason All-Americans.
Fighting Scots quarterback Alex Tanney (Normal, Ill./Lexington) and wide receiver Matt Shepherd (Leesburg, Fla.,/Fla.), a pair of senior business majors, were named to the first and second team offense, respectively. Only seniors were chosen by the selection committee.
As a junior, Tanney was presented with the Melberger Trophy as the nation's top Division III football player and was named a preseason All-American this year by Consensus Draft Services. He led Division III last season with 3,856 passing yards and accounted for 350.55 passing yards per game. The 6-foot-4 signal caller passed for more than 400 yards four times last season and has thrown for more than 10,000 yards in his career.
Shepherd was on the receiving end of nearly a third of Tanney's completions. He led the team with a school-record 1,006 receiving yards on 96 catches, averaging more than 90 yards per game. His nine receiving TDs ranked him second among the Scots' receivers. Shepherd holds the Scots' career receiving records with 176 catches in his first three years.
The Scots won their second straight Midwest Conference title in 2009 and recorded their second consecutive unbeaten regular season. Monmouth climbed as high as No. 8 in the national polls last season and tied or broke nearly 50 school records.

The D3 Senior Classic is billed as the premier post season all-star game showcasing the talent of senior players on the NCAA Division III football level. The game is held annually in December at Salem Stadium in Salem, Va., home of the NCAA national championship game. The D3 Senior Classic organization has partnered with the Beyond Sports Network (BSN) for the player selection process during the 2010 season. Player invitations will begin to be mailed beginning in the preseason and will continue until the Nov. 15 commitment deadline. Ninety-two players will participate in this year's game, represented in a North vs. South format.