The football team continued to be rewarded for its respectable 2004 season this week. Tailback Nick Hartigan '06 and linebacker Zak DeOssie '07, both of whom were first team All-Ivy performers, were selected to the 2004 Football Gazette All-American Team Monday. Hartigan received second-team honors, while DeOssie made third team.
For Hartigan, the selection comes four-and-a-half months after a season in which he cemented his place as one of the Ivy League's top running backs. The junior from Fairfax, Va., set single-season school records for carries (323) and rushing touchdowns (17) and also rushed for 1,263 yards, good for second all-time behind his own record of 1,498 yards from the 2003 campaign. For his performance, Hartigan was named to All-Ivy and All-New England first teams for the second straight season and also received third team All-America honors from the Sports Network. Hartigan was named a first team CoSIDA National Academic All-American, Brown's first since 1987, for his exemplary performance on the field and his 3.87 GPA as a political science concentrator.
In registering 98 total tackles (53 solo), nine tackles for loss and five sacks, DeOssie displayed the football genes passed on to him by his father Steve DeOssie, a longtime player in the NFL. With DeOssie playing in only his second season as a linebacker - he was a quarterback in high school - the Brown defense emerged as one of the league's best, ranking second in the league in total defense. During the season, DeOssie earned Ivy League Player of the Week after recording 13 tackles and an interception against Yale on Nov. 6. His third team Gazette All-America selection comes on the heels of being named both first team All-Ivy and a first team All-Atlantic Region All-American.
