By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
ROCHESTER, Minn. – The votes have been tabulated and as the final tally is recorded, Tennessee Tech redshirt junior Josh Poplar was named an honorable mention selection for the Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year.
The final voting was conducted among members of the College Sports Information Directors of America, The Associated Press and by the editors of Touchdown Illustrated.
With the selection, Mayo Clinic will donate $2,500 into the general scholarship fund at Tech.
Poplar finished the 2018 season with 101 tackles – 40 solo and 61 assisted with two for-loss – while also forcing a fumble. He also intercepted a pass and returned it 14 yards for a touchdown against Chattanooga – his first game back after missing the 2017 season.
He missed that campaign after having a stroke before the start of fall camp. During that, a hole in his heart was discovered, which required surgery. Even though he couldn't compete, he remained a visible presence on the sidelines, cheering on his teammates.
Poplar graduated this past May and is currently working on his master's in Business Administration. He was also recently selected to the Google Cloud Academic All-District Team, presented by CoSIDA.
The three winners for the award include Antwan Dixon (Kent State), Seth Simmer (Dartmouth) and Antonio Wimbush (Carson-Newman).
Dixon, a wide receiver at Kent State University, was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder, while in high school. Late in his freshman year of 2015 at Kent State, his symptoms returned and took a turn for the worse after leading the team with 355 receiving yards on 26 catches. He was forced to leave school and subsequently missed the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
Dixon needed a life-saving bone marrow transplant, which his father gave to him, and had nine teeth removed to stop some of the bleeding. He went through eight days of chemotherapy treatments before the transplant.
After nearly three years away from football, the Fort Myers, Fla., native returned to Kent State and on opening day he caught three passes for 48 yards and a touchdown at Illinois. His best game of the season came in the Golden Flashes' 35-28 win over Bowling Green, when he caught six passes for 73 yards and a touchdown and ran the ball three times for 11 yards. In 12 games, the 5-8, 178-pound wide receiver led the team with 52 receptions for 532 yards and two touchdowns.
Simmer, a junior defensive tackle at Dartmouth College, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the spring of his freshman year. Doctors originally told him he would not play football again, but he got a second opinion at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., that assured him that if he had the surgery and recovered well, he could play again. He opted for the surgery, and on July 2, 2017, about 90 percent of the tumor, which had been pressing against his hearing and balancing nerves, was removed. The surgery took out his balancing nerve, forcing him to learn to walk again and causing him to lose the hearing in his left ear.
After missing the entire 2017 season, the Powder Springs, Ga., native returned to the field this year, contributing 11 tackles, including 1.5 for a loss. His play of the year came in the showdown between 7-0 Dartmouth at 7-0 Princeton, when he had a sack in the end zone for a safety, plus a fumble recovery for the Big Green.
Wimbush, a junior running back at Carson-Newman University, tore his ACL in the Eagles second game of the 2017 season versus St. Augustine. The Kingsland, Ga., native shocked his doctors and trainers with a grueling and aggressive physical therapy regimen.
The hard work paid off, when he returned to the field for the Eagles 2018 opener, carrying 12 times for 96 yards in a loss to West Florida. A week later, Wimbush established a career high with 184 yards on just 21 carries and three scores in a 33-29 win at Virginia Union in which he was recognized as the South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week.
In 11 games he carried the ball 151 times for 1,206 yards and seven touchdowns, added four receptions for 48 yards and a touchdown, and three punt returns for 33 yards. His 1,206 yards rushing led the South Atlantic Conference and was the 18th best single-season total in school history.
The 5-foot-9, 190-pound halfback had a string of four straight 100-yard games at the mid-point of the season and finished the year with 100-yard rushing efforts in five of Carson-Newman's final six games. He moved up to 11th on both Carson-Newman's career rushing yards and rushing touchdown charts. His 8.0 yards per carry are the eighth highest single-season total in school history and the second highest total in NCAA Division II this year. He was named Division II All-Region second-team.
The three winners will be honored on-field at the 2019 Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Day, while Mayo Clinic will make a $5,000 donation to their schools' general scholarship fund.
Also named as honorable mentions were David Blough (QB, Purdue), Eric Dungey (QB, Syracuse), Caleb Farley (DB, Virginia Tech), Sam Shook (OL, Ohio Northern) and Austin Tillman (LB, Washburn).
-- Blough returned from a horrific right ankle dislocation last year to pass for more than 3,500 yards and 25 touchdowns in leading the Boilermakers to a 6-6 record, a memorable win over Ohio State and a berth in the Music City Bowl;
-- Dungey returned from a broken foot last November to lead the Orange to a 9-3 record and a berth in the Camping World Bowl on the strength of 3,400 combined rushing and passing yards and 32 total touchdowns;
-- Farley missed his freshman season due to a torn ACL in his first college practice and then, following the 2017 season, his mother lost her long battle with cancer. He returned to the field this year and in his first game on national television recorded two interceptions and a sack versus Florida State;
-- Shook missed the entire 2016 season and all but four games in the 2017 season for a pair of foot injuries, both requiring surgery. He was named the AP Second Team Division III All-America, Ohio Athletic Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year and First Team All-OAC;
-- Tillman suffered a Grade 5 separated shoulder in the third game last year that required surgery and a grueling off-season rehabilitation regimen. His 111 tackles this year were third in the Division II Mid-America Athletic Conference and earned him all-MIAA Second Team honors.
