CHARLESTON, SC NEWS - LIVE 5 WCSC Breaking News, Weather, SportsSoCon media selects four Bulldogs to All-Conference teams
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Charleston, S.C. – The Southern Conference media selected four Bulldog football players to the 2009 Media All- Conference teams, announced Wednesday by the conference office. Leading the group is All-America wide receiver Andre Roberts, who was honored at both wide receiver and return specialist.
The conference media named tight end Alex Sellars to the All-Conference first team, while Roberts joined him for his performance at wide receiver. The second team consisted of offensive lineman Daniel DeHaven as well as defensive back Cortez Allen and Roberts for return specialist. DeHaven, Roberts and Sellars were also selected to the coaches' All-Conference teams.
Sellars, who earned second team honors by the conference coaches, finished the season with 16 receptions for 159 yards and six touchdowns. His best performance came against Presbyterian when he caught three passes for 35 yards and two touchdowns.
Roberts finished the season with 77 receptions for 792 yards and 11 carries for 77 yards. He totaled eight touchdowns, four against Presbyterian, while also totaling three kickoff returns for 66 yards and 14 punt returns for 217 to lead the SoCon and rank sixth in the nation. His all-purpose total for the 2009 season was 1,152.
DeHaven led a Bulldog offensive line that led The Citadel to an overtime against conference champions Appalachian State, a dominating performance over Furman and a come-from behind victory against Samford, each with three different quarterbacks.
Allen finished the season as the second leading tackler for the Bulldogs with 57 total tackles, including 36 solo. He recorded three interceptions on the season with a total of 112 return yards. Two of the interceptions (30 and 82 yards) were against Samford in the Bulldogs' 28-16 victory. The 112 yards broke a school record and marked the second highest all-time single-game interception return yard total in the Southern Conference.
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Five Furman Paladins have been selected All-Southern Conference in voting by the league media, it was announced today.
Furman placed two players on the All-SoCon first team, including sophomore linebacker Kadarron Anderson and sophomore corneback Ryan Steed, and three earned second team honors: senior offensive guard Tyler Haynes, junior wide receiver Adam Mims, and sophomore running back Tersoo Uhaa.
Anderson, from Greenwood, S.C., racked up a team leading 123 tackles this year in his first season as a starter, and Steed, a Mt. Pleasant, S.C, native, tallied 59 tackles and a SoCon best 11 pass deflections. He also intercepted a team leading four passes, one of which he returned 44 yards for a touchdown in a 30-22 win over Georgia Southern in Statesboro.
Haynes, a Birmingham, Ala., product, saw action in 45 games, including 31 starts, and logged over 2,300 plays in his career.
Mims, meanwhile, caught a school record 74 passes for 878 yards and four touchdowns this year and, in the process, became Furman's all-time receptions leader (143) only three years into his Paladin career.
Uhaa paced Furman in rushing with 535 yards and in scoring with 84 points, including 13 rushing touchdowns. The Gainesville, Ga., native has 21 rushing touchdowns in two seasons at Furman.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Record-setting Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards was named Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season while a resurgent Chattanooga team earned two of the four major awards in the voting by the Southern Conference Sports Media Association. Western Carolina running back Michael Johnson was named the Freshman of the Year, and the group also selected all-conference teams on offense, defense and special teams.
Chattanooga senior defensive end Josh Beard earned Defensive Player of the Year honors while the media tabbed UTC head coach Russ Huesman as its Coach of the Year.
Edwards was a unanimous choice as the Roy M. "Legs" Hawley Offensive Player of the Year, becoming the first two-time winner of the award since Walter Payton Award-winning running back Louis Ivory of Furman in 2000-01. A leading candidate to earn his second consecutive Payton Award this season, Edwards is the SoCon's all-time career leader in total offense, and he leads the league in that category again this season. The Greenwood, S.C., native is also tops among league players in scoring, passing efficiency and passing yards per game, and he became the first player in Southern Conference history to lead his team to four straight league championships as the starting quarterback.
Beard, a 6-1, 250-pound senior defensive end, leads the Southern Conference and is tied for the national lead with 12 sacks on the season, a number that equals the ninth-highest single-season total in league history. The Lincolnton, Ga., native recorded at least one sack in eight games in 2009, including a stretch in mid-October where he tallied two sacks in three consecutive games. In addition to his sacks, Beard tallied 62 tackles and four quarterback hurries. He is the first-ever Chattanooga player to be honored by the SoCon media as a league player of the year.
Western Carolina's Johnson was the top freshman rusher in the SoCon in 2009, amassing 568 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair of games where he topped 100 yards against nationally-ranked opponents Appalachian State and Elon. A native of Decatur, Ga., Johnson started nine games during his freshman campaign and added 25 receptions for 137 yards out of the backfield.
Huesman, in his first year as the head coach of his alma mater, guided Chattanooga to a five-game improvement from a year ago. The Mocs finished 6-5 overall and 4-4 in the Southern Conference, following a winless league campaign in 2008. The Mocs' four league win were the most since 1998 while the overall winning record was just the second for the program in the last 12 years.
SoCon champion Appalachian State placed 15 players on the all-conference team, including nine first-team selections. Eight Elon players were honored along with seven from Chattanooga and five each from The Citadel, Furman and Samford.
2009 Media All-Southern Conference Football Team
Roy M. "Legs" Hawley Offensive Player of the Year – Armanti Edwards, Sr., QB, Appalachian State *
Defensive Player of the Year – Josh Beard, Sr., DE, Chattanooga
Freshman of the Year – Michael Johnson, RB, Western Carolina
Wallace Wade Coach of the Year – Russ Huesman, Chattanooga
* - Unanimous selection
First Team Offense
QB Armanti Edwards, Sr., Appalachian State
RB Chris Evans, Jr., Samford
RB Devon Moore, Jr., Appalachian State
OL Mario Acitelli, Sr., Appalachian State
OL David Harrison, Sr., Elon
OL Jon Weber, Sr., Samford
OL Pat Illig, Jr., Wofford
OL Brett Irvin, Jr., Appalachian State
TE Alex Sellars, Jr., The Citadel
WR Terrell Hudgins, Sr., Elon
WR Andre Roberts, Sr., The Citadel
First Team Defense
DL Josh Beard, Sr., Chattanooga
DL Andre Campbell, Sr., Elon
DL Jabari Fletcher, Jr., Appalachian State
DL Brent Russell, Fr., Georgia Southern
LB D.J. Smith, Jr., Appalachian State
LB Kadarron Anderson, So., Furman
LB Bryce Smith, Jr., Samford
DB Mark LeGree, Jr., Appalachian State
DB Jordan Tippit, So., Chattanooga
DB Ryan Steed, So., Furman
DB Cortez Gilbert, Sr., Appalachian State
First Team Specialists
PK Craig Camay, Sr., Chattanooga
P Bob Hooper, So., Samford
RS CoCo Hillary, Jr., Appalachian State
Second Team Offense
QB Scott Riddle, Jr., Elon
RB Tersoo Uhaa, So., Furman
RB Jamal Shuman, So., Elon
OL Chris Werden, Sr., Elon
OL Daniel DeHaven, Sr., The Citadel
OL Tyler Haynes, Sr., Furman
OL Pat Mills, Jr., Appalachian State
OL Chris Harr, Jr., Chattanooga
TE Ben Jorden, So., Appalachian State
WR Blue Cooper, Sr., Chattanooga
WR Adam Mims, Jr., Furman
Second Team Defense
DL John Michael Clay, Jr., Samford
DL Lanston Tanyi, So., Appalachian State
DL Eric Ludwig, Sr., Elon
DL Joshua Williams, Fr., Chattanooga
LB Adrian McLeod, Sr., Western Carolina
LB Chris Collins, Sr., Western Carolina
LB Jacque Roman, Sr., Appalachian State
DB Karlos Sullivan, Sr., Elon
DB Buster Skrine, Jr., Chattanooga
DB Cortez Allen, Jr., The Citadel
DB Ed Gainey, So., Appalachian State
Second Team Specialists
PK Jason Vitaris, Jr., Appalachian State
P Chris Tommie, Sr., Wofford
RS Andre Roberts, Sr., The Citadel
Courtesy: The Citadel, Furman, Southern Conference
