Nick Strausbaugh

2017 D3football.com All-North Region Team

Sophomore wide receiver Nick Strausbaugh of The College of Wooster earned second-team honors on the 2017 D3football.com All-North Region Team, the website announced on Tuesday.

Strausbaugh, who was selected the North Coast Athletic Conference Newcomer-of-the-Year, joined the football team this fall after only playing baseball as a freshman and went on to re-write the Fighting Scots' receiving records this fall.

During Wooster's season opening 45-21 win over Bluffton University, Strausbaugh hauled in three receptions for 79 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown, and that was a sign of things to come. Five consecutive 100-yard games followed, and the speedy sophomore found the end zone six times during that span, including twice against nationally-ranked Wabash College.

Strausbaugh's biggest game came during a 51-41 win at Kenyon College on Oct. 28, as Wooster secured a finish above .500 for the first time since 2013. Against the Lords, Strausbaugh hauled in eight receptions for 212 yards and four touchdowns – all before halftime. In fact, the four touchdowns tied Wooster's single-game record and bumped Strausbaugh's season total to 13, at the time tied for the single-season program record. Strausbaugh went on to score four more touchdowns the rest of the way, including three in the season finale at nationally-ranked Wittenberg University, to give him 17 on the year, a total which matched the single-season NCAC record and ranked third in Div. III as of the end of the regular season.

A week after the Kenyon game, Strausbaugh broke Wooster's single-season program record for receiving yards versus Denison University, and he finished with 1,294 yards, the third-most in Div. III as of the end of the regular season. Noteworthy, Strausbaugh's just the second receiver in program history to surpass 1,000 yards in a season.

Strausbaugh's honor marks Wooster's first D3football.com All-North Region selection since Brandon James in 2014.