FOOTBALL: Beavers' Alt, Beaulieu, Kaplan named to D2Football.com Elite 100 Team
Jan. 5—BEMIDJI — The Bemidji State football team is not done collecting accolades from another historic season.
Three members of the Beavers' 2022 squad — quarterback Brandon Alt, wide receiver Brendan Beaulieu and defensive end Zollie Kaplan — were named to the Elite 100 Team announced by D2Football.com on Wednesday.
Beaulieu headlines the group, earning First Team honors to become the program's first-ever D2Football.com First Team selection. Alt and Kaplan were each named to the Squad Team to round out the list. It is the first time in program history that multiple student-athletes earned Elite 100 honors in the same season.
Alt, a finalist for the 2021 and 2022 Harlon Hill Trophy as Division II's Player of the Year, makes his debut on the D2Football.com Elite 100 Squad. A native of Cottage Grove, Alt was the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2022 and led the NSIC with 3,864 passing yards and 38 passing touchdowns, which also ranked him third in Division II in both categories. He posted a 156.6 passing efficiency and 59.9 completion percentage through 13 games during the 2022 season and is the program's all-time career passing yardage and career touchdown record holder. He was also named to the D2CCA All-Super Region 4 Second Team.
Beaulieu caps off his senior campaign as a four-time All-America selection during the 2022 season and one of the best receivers to come through the BSU football program. Beaulieu shattered Bemidji State single-season and career records. The Cottage Grove native led D-II with 19 touchdown receptions, also a single-season record at Bemidji State. Beaulieu set a program record with 1,504 receiving yards in 2022, the second-highest total in the nation. Beaulieu concluded the most productive receiving season in Bemidji State history by catching a program-record 82 passes, sixth most in D-II. He finished his senior season with the Beavers as the program's career record holder in receptions (215), receiving yards (3,725) and receiving touchdowns (38).
Kaplan earns his third All-America accolade after being named to the AP All-America First Team and D2CCA All-America Second Team earlier this season. Kaplan finished seventh in the Gene Upshaw Award voting as the nation's top senior lineman and was the program's first-ever finalist for the award. The St. Louis Park native finished third in Division II with 14.5 sacks and eighth with 21.5 tackles for loss. His 14.5 sacks this season is the second-most in program history and he is second at BSU with 26.0 career sacks.
Kaplan is the first-ever defensive lineman in program history to earn All-America First or Second Team recognition and just the second to be recognized as All-America after Zach Stafford (2006) was an honorable mention.
The D2Football.com Elite 100 was selected by D2Football.com with input from coaches and scouts from around the country. D2Football.com has compiled an Elite 100 team since its inception in 2000.
