The season hasn't even started and Case Western Reserve University senior Eli Grant from Brooklyn, N.Y., has recorded a hat trick—and he's not a soccer or hockey player.

Grant, the Spartans starting quarterback, was recently named a first-team preseason
All-American by D3football.com, a highly visited Web site for NCAA Division III football.

This is Grant's third All-American honor this preseason. He also was named to the Lindy's National College Football Preseason Magazine first team and to Don Hansen's Football Gazette second team.

In 2002, when he finished his junior season third in the nation in passing efficiency (170.8) and third in total offense (319.2 yards per game), Grant was named a NCAA Division III third-team All-American by several voting outlets, including Football Gazette and D3football.com and received an honorable mention from Hewlett Packard.

Grant, a senior, rewrote the UAA record book in nearly every passing category last year.
In his best performances, Grant completed 36 of 52 passes for 492 yards against Washington University and threw five touchdown passes against the University of Chicago. On the season, Grant completed 220 out of 345 passes for 3,265 yards and 33 touchdowns, breaking school records along the way.

The Case offense as a whole finished second in the nation last year in total offense
(507.8 yards per game), first in passing offense (357.7 yards per game) and 19th in scoring (36.9 points per game).

Like quarterback, like coach

The preseason awards don't stop with the Case QB. American Football Monthly, a national magazine for football coaches, elevated Case Head Coach Joe Perella in the NCAA Division III coaching ranks in this month's issue. Perella, about to kick off his third season in University Circle, was named to the publications "HOT LIST."

With the help of some of the top sports writers and football experts in the nation, the publication compiled a list of coaches that it believes are the future of high school, college and professional football. For a complete list and profiles log on to http://www.AmericanFootballMonthly.com.

"It was shocking to me at my age thinking of being a 'hot' coach," said Perella. "But it is an honor and a tribute to the people who work with me. When you coach football, you can't do it by yourself, you have to have good assistants, and I think I have great assistants."

Out of eight Division III coaches listed—82 total—Perella is one of just two from Ohio.

The Spartans, who recorded their first winning season in over a decade last year at 6-4 and opened training camp last week, kick off their season at 1 p.m. September 6 at home against Otterbein College.

Return to the online edition of the 8-28-03 Campus News.