Toledo strong safety Barry Church has a lot on his resume. Church has been named first-team All-MAC his first two seasons in a Rockets uniform, and he’s only a junior.

Last season, Church was third on the Rockets with 92 tackles and second on the team with six tackles for loss. He also tied for the Rockets lead with three interceptions and four pass breakups.

His freshman season in 2006, Church led Toledo with four interceptions and ran two of them back for touchdowns.

In addition to his first-team All-MAC honor, Church was named a second-team Freshman All-American by the Sporting News and Scout.com.

This preseason, Church was named to the watch list for the Jim Thorpe Award (nation’s best defensive back) and the Bronko Nagurski Award (nation’s best defensive player).

So far on the season, Church has 49 tackles, including three tackles for loss. The Pittsburgh native also has a forced fumble and three pass breakups.

“They do a nice job of putting him in situations where it’s tough to get on him, tough to block him and they allow him to make plays,” said NIU offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover. “He’s a very active player, really has a great nose for the football. He gets in the right spots.”

Toledo likes to use church up in the box against the run in their nickel defense.

“There’s some times where he likes to come up in the box,” said wide receiver Greg Turner. “It’s something that’s going to give us a challenge but it’s something that we have to work on this week and stop him from doing what he does.”

When Toledo and NIU met last season at the Glass Bowl, Church was the third leading tackler for Toledo with six in the Rockets 70-21 victory.