EIU Award Winner List
 
Eastern Illinois wide receiver Cooper Willman has been named the 2024-25 Panthers Male Athlete of the Year.
 
Willman was named a first team All-Big South/OVC Football selection this past season at two different positions earning the honor as both a wide receiver and all-purpose position player.  He finished the season with 66 receptions for 955 yards and eight touchdowns.  He served as the Panthers primary punt returner and late in the season handled kickoff return duties for a good part of the season.   The 66 receptions during the year ranked tenth on the EIU single season receptions list.
 
During the year Willman had three games with over 100 yards receiving including a record setting performance at Gardner-Webb where he set the EIU record for receiving yards in a game.  Willman hauled in 11 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns.  The total was third most in OVC football history while setting the record for the Big South/OVC Football Association.  He became the 35^th player in school history to go over the 1,000 receiving yard mark for their career and ended the season ranked 19^th on the EIU career record book.

Willman was one of five candidates for this award announced at the Panthers end of year awards ceremony (The Billy's).  He was joined by Nakyel Shelton (basketball), Dismas Dillon (swimming), Ramsey Hunt (track & field) and Daniel Lacy (track & field) as candidates.
 
EIU will continue the release of its end-of-year awards this week with the Female Athlete of the Year set for Wednesday and the Male & Female Athletic Director's Award set for Thursday and Friday.