DALLAS – The Dallas Renegades of the newly reformed XFL professional football league selected former Fort Hays State standout safety Doyin Jibowu in the 2019 XFL Draft on Wednesday. Jibowu was an undrafted free agent signing in the spring of 2019 with the Chicago Bears of the NFL, but was released prior to the start of the regular season in September.

Jibowu played in four preseason games with the Chicago Bears in 2019 before his release when the Bears trimmed their roster for the regular season. Over the four games, he recorded seven tackles and one interception.

Training camps for XFL teams will begin in November of 2019. The first regular season games are set to begin in February of 2020. The regular season will consist of 10 weeks, while the playoffs and championship game will be in April. The Dallas Renegades will be playing home games inside of Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, the long-time home of the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball.

Jibowu was a two-time All-America selection by the Don Hansen Football Committee and finished his senior year of 2018 with 57 tackles, including 6 for loss, 2 interceptions, 1 sack, and 11 pass breakups. He wrapped his impressive four-year career at FHSU with 276 tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss, 5.0 sacks, 9 interceptions, and 26 pass breakups. Jibowu was a three-time All-MIAA First Team selection at defensive back and received Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA in his time at FHSU. Jibowu helped FHSU to back-to-back MIAA Championships and NCAA Playoff appearances in 2017 and 2018 and a pair of bowl game appearances in 2015 and 2016.

Former University of Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops is the head coach and general manager of the Renegades.

With the 8th pick of Round 8 (No. 64 overall) in the Defensive Backfield #XFLDraft, the #XFLRenegades select saftey @DoyinJi!#RenegadesDraft // #RaisingHell pic.twitter.com/iZQuKHLzB0

— Dallas Renegades (@XFLRenegades) October 16, 2019

Hutchinson native Ben Heeney also was drafted by the XFL’s New York Guardians.

Fort Hays State Tiger coach Chris Brown held his weekly press conference Tuesday after the Tigers earned a 19-3 win over Emporia State Saturday in Hays.

The Tigers have won four in-a-row and are 4-2 heading into Saturday’s meeting with the 5-1 Pittsburg State Gorillas.

Sophomore wide receiver and sophomore quarterback Chance Fuller also addressed the media Tuesday. You can hear their comments below.

Chris Brown

Manny Ramsey

Kiel Simas

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The FHSU men’s golf team placed third overall at the Blue Tiger Invitational hosted by Lincoln University. The tournament was held at Jefferson City Country Club, a par-72 course.

As a team, the Tigers finished in their highest position of the season. They led the tournament after the first round, shooting 308. After rounds of 313 and 316, the Tigers finished with a 937 overall, good for third place as a team. Concordia-St. Paul won the tournament with a total of 917. Central College of Iowa claimed second place over the Tigers by one stroke, shooting a 936 over three rounds.

Pete Carney led the team by turning in a 12-over par 228 total (72-77-79). Carney finished in sixth place overall individually. Bryce Cowan followed Carney, putting together an 18-over par performance of 234 (78-77-79). Cowan ended the tournament tied for eighth place individually and led the team in birdies sinking ten throughout the three rounds. Isaiah Grover had a top-15 performance as he finished tied for 15th. Grover carded a 239, shooting 23-over par for the tournament (82-79-78). Marcus Willey earned a top 20 finish by placing in a tie for 18th overall. He ended the tournament with a 240 total, shooting 24-over par (79-81-80). Cole Gritton rounded out the team with a 241 total (79-80-82). Gritton finished in a tie for 21st individually.

Fort Hays State also had three individuals competing aside from players chosen for the team scoring. Colton Bobek finished the highest in a tie for 23rd. He put in rounds of 84, 79, and 79 for a 242. Reese Emert followed Bobek with a 250 (81-89-80), finishing in 33rd. Luke Russell carded rounds of 84, 87, and 82 for a 253 and tied for 34th.

Gabe Trowbridge of Lincoln claimed first individually by shooting a 5-over 221 (73-74-74).

The Tigers will play their final tournament of the fall season next week at the Jerry Hrnciar Invitational in Duncan, Okla (Oct. 21-22).

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Junior defender Moritz Walther and freshman goalkeeper Kieran Brown of FHSU Men’s Soccer earned GAC Player of the Week honors on Tuesday (Oct. 15). Walther earned Defender of the Week, while Brown earned Goalkeeper of the Week. This is the first weekly honor for both individuals this season.

Walther scored two of the three goals for Fort Hays State in a 3-1 win at Southern Nazarene. His penalty kick goal proved to be the game winner in the 31st minute, then added another goal on a header off a pass into the box just over four minutes later to help FHSU build a 3-0 lead by halftime. Walther played all 180 minutes possible for the week, also helping the Tigers claim a 3-1 win against Oklahoma Baptist in Hays.

Brown moved to 4-0 on the season with a pair of wins against Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene. He averaged three saves per match in Fort Hays State’s pair of 3-1 wins over Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene. Brown has a .786 save percentage so far on the season in his four matches played.

Walther and Brown joined Jake Simpson of Rogers State (Offensive Player of the Week) as the weekly honorees from the conference office.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In this latest national poll, the Fort Hays State men’s soccer program has earned their spot at No. 18.

The Tigers, who were ranked two positions lower one week ago, have moved up following their 3-1 victories over Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene. Fort Hays State’s six goals in the previous week came from Santiago Agudelo, Alonso Rodriguez, Nathan De La Hoya, and Moritz Walther.

The black and gold hold the top spot in the Great American Conference boasting a 6-0-1 record, and 7-3-1 overall. FHSU will face off against a pair of conference foes in the coming days – Rogers State on Thursday and Northeastern State on Saturday.

The Hillcats currently hold a record of 7-3-1 and received votes but did not crack the top 25. While, the RiverHawks are 6-5 overall. Both programs are 4-3 in the GAC and have suffered losses to Fort Hays State earlier in the 2019 campaign.

The Tigers previous victories came on an overtime goal from Agudelo to seal a 2-1 result against Northeastern State, while Rogers State was handed a two-goal defeat in mid-September.

Harding University, whom FHSU also defeated earlier in the season, also received votes but was not selected in the national poll.

 

Below is the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll for October 15, 2019:

Rank	School	Prev	W-L-T
1	Azusa Pacific University	1	10-0-0
2	California State University-Los Angeles	3	9-0-0
3	Adelphi University	4	10-0-1
4	Lynn University	8	8-0-1
5	Lake Erie College	6	12-0-0
6	Midwestern State University	9	9-1-0
7	Florida Tech	5	8-0-1
8	University Of Charleston	10	9-2-0
9	Mercy College	11	10-1-1
10	Gannon University	12	9-1-0
11	Lander University	21	6-1-2
12	Texas A&M International University	16	8-1-1
13	California State University-San Bernardino	13	7-1-1
14	Bellarmine University	17	8-0-3
15	University Of West Florida	14	8-1-1
16	Wilmington University	19	10-1-1
17	Carson-Newman University	NR	8-2-1
18	Fort Hays State University	20	7-3-1
19	St. Mary’s University (Texas)	NR	7-2-1
20	Francis Marion University	7	6-2-1
21	Palm Beach Atlantic University	24	7-1-2
22	McKendree University	NR	8-1-2
23	West Chester University	18	7-2-1
24	Post University	RV	6-1-3
25	Maryville University of St. Louis	2	10-2-0

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Senior goalkeeper Megan Kneefel was named MIAA Co-Goalkeeper of the Week on Tuesday (Oct. 15) following a 1-0-1 weekend and recording a shutout victory over Missouri Western last Friday (Oct. 11). Kneefel shares the honor with Lindsey Johnson of Central Missouri.

Kneefel earned a win and a tie in a pair of road matches for Fort Hays State. She picked up her fifth shutout of the season in a 3-0 win at Missouri Western. The only goal she allowed in a 1-1 tie at Northwest Missouri State was on a penalty kick. She stopped 12 of 26 shots she faced for the week, saving four in the shutout at Missouri Western and eight in the tie at Northwest Missouri.

Kneefel joins Central Missouri’s Makayla Toth (Offensive Player of the Week), Allysa Gan (Defensive Player of the Week), and Lindsey Johnson (Co-Goalkeeper of the Week) as recipients of conference honors this week.