CEDAR CITY, Utah, Jan. 14 – Southern Utah University wide receiver Tysson Poots has received All-America honors for the 2010 season by all the grantiting bodies, now he has also been honored for his career performance as well. Poots was named the 2010 NCAA Division I Football  Championship Subdivision Elite Wide Receiver by College Football Performance Awards (CFPA).

CFPA honored Poots as the top receiver at the FCS level based upon his contributions to the school's success over the past four seasons. The NCAA's active career leader in receptions, yards, yards per game and receiving touchdowns at the end of the 2010 season, Poots was deemed by the CFPA to be the highest-impact receiver in the country during that time period.

The CFPA uses pure statistics and mathematical formulas to come up with their awards, which are given nationally on weekly, yearly and the elite basis. Poots earned the weekly award once this season, following Southern Utah's Great West Conference championship-clinching win at UC Davis, when he caught 12 passes for 191 yards and three touchdowns. He also received honorable mention for the weekly award four more times this season.

Poots finished his career at Southern Utah ranked seventh all-time in the FCS in receiving yards per game (99.4), ninth in receptions (282) and receiving touchdowns (43), 10th in receiving yards (3,975) and 14th in receptions per game (7.0).

“After an extensive review of the existing data, literature, and evidence, it was determined that [Poots] completed [his] career with the strongest D-I FCS receiving performance over the past 4 seasons,” CFPA Executive Director Bradley Smith said in an open letter to Poots. “As a result, [his] performance satisfies the strict criteria CFPA established for recognition at the wide receiver position.”

According to the CFPA, “the Overall Awards system annually recognizes the FBS & FCS performers responsible for the most overall team success. A performer is an Overall Awards recipient if and only if [he] is responsible for the most overall success in Division I FBS college football given team success, strength of schedule, and the contributions of teammates.”

In explaining the elite awards, CFPA says “the Elite Performance Series addresses the limitations of the Overall, Offensive, Defensive, and Special Teams systems. Elite Performance (1) honors recipients for having the top cumulative performance over multiple seasons. Elite Performance (2) honors recipients for finishing multiple seasons with performances of at least 2 standard deviations above a normally distributed mean for performance. Elite Performance (3) honors recipients with the strongest overall (3a) passing, (3b) rushing, (3c) receiving, (3d) kicking, or (3e) returning performances. Elite Performance (4) honors recipients whose performance ranks among the top ten of the decade. Elite Performance (5) honors recipients for having the most individual success for a position. Elite Performance (6) honors recipients for breaking notable all-time records.”

Poots, a native of Henderson, Nev. (Coronado HS), received his bachelor's degree in exercise science last May and has been pursuing a second major while completing his collegiate eligibility.

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