KALAMAZOO –  The final official event of the 2009 football season took place on Sunday night at the Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites as Western Michigan held the annual team banquet in downtown Kalamazoo.  The Bronco faithful said their final good-byes to the 17 seniors on this year’s team.

Justin Braska was named both the Joh Gill Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the Team Outstanding Defensive Player of the Year during Sunday’s banquet.  Braska led the team with 13.0 tackles for loss and finished career with 10 or more TFLs in back-to-back seasons.  He was named MAC West Player of the Week after recording 2.5 TFLs and 2.0 sacks at Kent State and ranked fourth in the MAC in TFLs, second on the team with 63 tackles and tied for second on the team with four PBUs.  Braska led team with six QB hurries.  He is an accountancy major with a 3.28 GPA.

Austin Pritchard received the Mike Gary Sportsmanship Award winner and has been the unquestioned leader of the defensive unit this entire season.  He finished with a career high 102 tackles in 2009, becoming the second Bronco in as many years to record over 100 tackles in a season.  He ranked third on team with 7.0 TFLs and ranked second on the team with four QB hurries.  He earned Second Team All-MAC Defense in 2009 and was a two-time MAC West Defensive Player of the Week selection this past season.  He recorded seven games with 10 or more tackles in 2009 and led the team in tackles in eight of 11 games played.

The Western Michigan football program has embraced the importance of giving back to the community during the Cubit era and every year the team awards the student-athlete that most embodies these efforts.  This season WMU awarded senior kicker/punter Tim Balice for racking up the highest amount of of community service hours over the past year.

John Potter was named the Team Special Teams Player of the Year.  Potter tied for team lead with 66 points scored, tying a career high with seven PATs at Toledo.  He tied for seventh in the MAC in field goals and ranked fifth in the MAC in PAT kick percentage.  Potter averaged 63.1 yards per kick off and set a career high with 15 touch backs.  The sophomore averaged under 60 yards per kick off only twice in 2009.

Brandon West was named Team Offensive Player of the Year after his record-breaking senior campaign.  West set the NCAA Division I FBS record for career kick return yards (3,118) and career all-purpose yards (7,764). He is the MAC career kick return yards and all-purpose yards record holder and the WMU career, season and game record holder for kick returns, kick return yards and all-purpose yards. West is one of only two running backs to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.  His 1,164 rushing yards rank seventh at WMU in a season.  He is one of only four WMU RBs to amass over 700 career rushing attempts (732) and tied for the team lead with 66 points.  West scored 10 rushing TDs in 2009 and 25 in his career.  He was named Second Team All-MAC Offense, and was named MAC West Offensive Player of the Week once while earning Special Teams Player of the Week three times.  West recorded 14 100-yard rushing games in his career, which ranks second all-time at WMU.  He registered a career high five 100-yard rushing games in 2009.

Tim Hiller was named the Outstanding Team Player.  Hiller finished his impressive career in a Bronco uniform with every passing record in program history.  He finished 2009 as the career record holder in passing attempts (1,607), completions (1,013), TDs (99), yards (11,329), total offense (11,220), total offensive plays (1,773) and completion percentage (63.0 percent).  He also tied the WMU career mark for career 300-yard games (16) and became only the fourth QB in MAC history to have three-straight 3,000-yard passing seasons.

The team also chose captains for this past season.  Hiller was named offensive team captain, Braska was named defensive team captain and Matt Pickens was named special teams captain.