Dion Does It Again

It appears that Pitt freshman tailback Dion Lewis wasn't finished collecting post-season awards and honors.

The national's third-leading rusher with 1,640 yards, Dion Lewis was selected as the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Rookie of the Year.

It is the fourth such honor for Lewis, who previously was named the Freshman of the Year by Sporting News and CBSSports.com and the Offensive Freshman of the Year by CollegeFootballNews.com.

As the Rookie of the Year in the ECAC, Lewis will be honored in February at the annual Eastern College Football Awards Banquet held at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J.

"When the whole thing's over, I think I'm going to have to sit down with (Pitt's Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations, E.J. Borghetti) and have him write down everything (Dion's accomplishments) on a single sheet of paper, because it is incredible,'' Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said.

"It's great for Dion, because he deserves it, and it's great for our football program. It's also great for our University to have such a great young man represent the school at such an early age. So, it's going to be exciting to see what happens in the future with him here at Pitt.''

Overall, the Panthers placed eight players on the All-ECAC Team to lead all Football Bowl Subdivision schools. Penn State (five) and East Carolina (four) were second and third, respectively.

Pitt's other ECAC honorees included sophomore wideout Jonathan Baldwin, senior tight end Dorin Dickerson, redshirt junior offensive tackle Jason Pinkston, senior offensive guard John Malecki, redshirt junior defensive end Greg Romeus, fifth-year senior defensive tackle Mick Williams and sixth-year senior middle linebacker Adam Gunn.

The ECAC encompasses nearly 300 member institutions ranging across 16 states from Maine to North Carolina and as far west as Illinois.

Ranked as high as No. 16 nationally, Pitt (9-3) concludes its season against North Carolina (8-4) in the Meineke Car Care Bowl Dec. 26 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. The game is nationally televised by ESPN and kicks off at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.