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** During the month of July EIUpanthers.com will take a look back at 13 moments, events or performances that helped shape the 2015-16 school year. **

Dino Fanti helped will the Eastern Illinois football team into the playoffs over the final two weeks of the regular season and thanks to that late season effort he was named the co-Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
 
Fanti was named the OVC Defensive Player of the Week in each of the final two weeks of the regular season as the Panthers beat UT Martin and Eastern Kentucky.  In the win over UT Martin he was named the National Defensive Player of the Week finishing that game with seven tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss a forced fumble and a pressure on the quarterback that led to the game ending turnover.  Against EKU, in his final game at O'Brien Field, Fanti had five solo tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks.
 
He was named a first team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association and was named the FCS Defensive Tackle of the Year by the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA).  He set the school single season record for tackles for loss with 22 which ranked eighth in the OVC.  He finished his career as the school's career leader in tackles for loss with 55.  Fanti was third in the nation in forced fumbles with five.
 
In May of 2016 he was named the EIU Senior Male Athlete of the Year.   He became the seventh EIU player to win league defensive player of the year honors and fourth Panther to win the honor in the OVC.