SoCon Media Association Announces All-League Teams

[smallcollegefbfan]

http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4000&ATCLID=695117

[smallcollegefbfan]

Southern Conference Sports Media Association Announces Football All-Conference Teams
SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- Appalachian State and Furman dominated the Southern Conference Sports Media Association’s all-conference teams. The Mountaineers had nine first-team honorees while Furman placed seven players on the first-team in a vote of the membership of the league’s sports media association.

Elon had four players honored with first-team recognition followed by Georgia Southern (three), The Citadel (one) and Wofford (one).

Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore was named the league’s Coach of the Year for the second straight season. Appalachian State running back Kevin Richardson was named Offensive Player of the Year and quarterback Armanti Edwards was tabbed Freshman of the Year. Elon linebacker Chad Nkang repeated as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.

The Mountaineers finished the season with a 10-1 overall mar and a perfect 7-0 record in Southern Conference play. Appalachian State, the nation’s top-ranked team, will host Coastal Carolina (9-2, 4-0 in Big South) in the first round of the I-AA playoffs.

Three Furman players were named first-team on offense and four earned first-team recognition on defense. The Paladins (8-3, 6-1) play at Montana State (7-4, 6-2) in the opening round of the playoffs.

[FUwolfpacker]

Looks like they did a pretty darn good job to me. It's good to see Thornburg make first team o-line. He's had a really rough couple of years with injuries, but he got back into the starting lineup early this year and has played well since.

The only slightly surprising thing to me is the two Furman d-lineman on first team D. They both had good years, but I thought one of the ASU guys on second team (most likely Tharrington) would have been voted ahead of them. I'll take it though:).

Mr. C, what do you think of the teams?

[HiHiYikas]

I am a little surprised to see that the voters were willing to put a freshman at all-SoCon first team QB. Congrats to Armanti; it would nice to see him go 4-for-4.

It would be nice to actually see those "teams" play. Give me any team in the ACC vs. the all SoCon teams. A Felton/Richardson backfield would be fun to watch.

[thirdgendin]

It looks like a good list to me. I'm glad that they didn't "penalize" Edwards for being a Freshman because he deserves the first-team award.

I'm more and more impressed with Jerry Moore every year as well. What a class guy and a great coach.

[AppGuy04]

Waiting for the Elon fans to cry wolfxlolx xlolx xlolx xlolx

15 out of 22 starters on the all-conference team, woohoo

[FUwolfpacker]

I am a little surprised to see that the voters were willing to put a freshman at all-SoCon first team QB. Congrats to Armanti; it would nice to see him go 4-for-4.

It would be nice to actually see those "teams" play. Give me any team in the ACC vs. the all SoCon teams. A Felton/Richardson backfield would be fun to watch.

Man, that would be awesome.

As far as Edwards goes, I don't think anyone else in the conference really made enough of a case for himself to be selected over Armanti. Pope had a good year, but in the overall scope...Pope's year really wasn't better than Edwards. Pope had 300 more yards of total offense (playing in more games I assume since Edwards didn't start the season at the starting QB), the same amount of TD, and 4 more interceptions. Plus, Edwards team won.

Congrats to all of the All-SoCon players!

[BeauFoster]

http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4000&ATCLID=695155

Here is the link for the SoCon Coaches players of the year and all-conference teams. It is pretty similar to the media list but names El Cid QB Durant Lawson to the 2nd team. I wonder if the final game of the year swayed some of the coaches' minds to Durant over Pope?

[gophoenix]

Waiting for the Elon fans to cry wolf

Nah, I think Higgins deserved coach of the year though.

[BestOfBreed]

Not very many Wofford players xidiotx

[Mr. C]

http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4000&ATCLID=695155

Here is the link for the SoCon Coaches players of the year and all-conference teams. It is pretty similar to the media list but names El Cid QB Durant Lawson to the 2nd team. I wonder if the final game of the year swayed some of the coaches' minds to Durant over Pope?
A bigger difference is that the coaches named Marques Murrell as the defensive player of the year. Kerry Brown of ASU received the Jacobs Blocking Award. I would have picked three different Mountaineers (Murrell, Wiggins and Lynch, which is how I had them on my ballot) over Nkang as defensive player of the year. No offense to Nkang, who is a fine player, but I have a huge problem with giving an award like that to a player who plays on a defense that really isn't good. But our voters are wowed by tackle stats. I generally agree more with the coaches on their picks. They see film on all of these guys every week, so I think their picks are a little more on the mark in most cases. Though I was surprised Jerome Felton was only second team on their squad, behind Richardson and Buckley (who I actually think is a better runner than Richardson). The Mountaineers swept all four major awards from the coaches.

[BULLDOG8180]

http://www.soconsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4000&ATCLID=695155

Here is the link for the SoCon Coaches players of the year and all-conference teams. It is pretty similar to the media list but names El Cid QB Durant Lawson to the 2nd team. I wonder if the final game of the year swayed some of the coaches' minds to Durant over Pope?

Lawson deserved recognition, a well deserved honor. :thumbsup: I am a perplexed that more Bulldogs didn't make it offensively- of the conference games they ranked #2 offensively behind App. St. in total offense. Another Bulldog that I feel deserved recognition was Tory Cooper, conference leader in all purpose yds.


I wonder how Joshua Lawson was left off the coaches selections- finished 4th in the league in tackles and had 2 INTs.xidiotx Made 1st team/media.

[BULLDOG8180]

A bigger difference is that the coaches named Marques Murrell as the defensive player of the year. Kerry Brown of ASU received the Jacobs Blocking Award. I would have picked three different Mountaineers (Murrell, Wiggins and Lynch, which is how I had them on my ballot) over Nkang as defensive player of the year. No offense to Nkang, who is a fine player, but I have a huge problem with giving an award like that to a player who plays on a defense that really isn't good. But our voters are wowed by tackle stats. I generally agree more with the coaches on their picks. They see film on all of these guys every week, so I think their picks are a little more on the mark in most cases. Though I was surprised Jerome Felton was only second team on their squad, behind Richardson and Buckley (who I actually think is a better runner than Richardson). The Mountaineers swept all four major awards from the coaches.

I know the purple people will be upset, but really beleive Felton was lucky to make the second team- besides his TD's (and a lot of those were 1 yd plunges) he really didn't stand out statistical wise.

8 running backs in the conference outrushed him, and all but 1 of those had a better avg/carry. In the 7 conference games his avg. was less than 4 yds/carry.

[OL FU]

I know the purple people will be upset, but really beleive Felton was lucky to make the second team- besides his TD's (and a lot of those were 1 yd plunges) he really didn't stand out statistical wise.

8 running backs in the conference outrushed him, and all but 1 of those had a better avg/carry. In the 7 conference games his avg. was less than 4 yds/carry.

I think the difference is that most people understand the Felton is not going to gain 150 yards a game. They understand the type of runner he is and how important that is.

I won't argue where he should be I will leave it to the experts. But I am not surprised that he made the list with out the stats.

[youwouldno]

Felton was not Furman's only primary back; Gipson leads the team in rushing yards. But Felton should be a first-teamer because he changes the game when he plays. His impact can't be measured in total yards, especially since many carries come on obvious rushing downs and goal line situtations.

[BULLDOG8180]

I think the difference is that most people understand the Felton is not going to gain 150 yards a game. They understand the type of runner he is and how important that is.

I won't argue where he should be I will leave it to the experts. But I am not surprised that he made the list with out the stats.


Valid points. I guess my argument is the media believes that FU has 2 of the best 4 RBs in the league. I disagree.

[youwouldno]

I don't think the 2/4 argument by itself carries a lot of water. How do you know that Furman doesn't?

[Mr. C]

On looking at the media team a little closer, there are some screwy picks. No Dexter Jackson as either a return specialist, or a WR. No Julian Rauch as the first-team place kicker (statistically and every other way the best, head and shoulders in the SoCon). He is also brilliant on kickoffs. Gary Nelson on the second team as a LB. There are a bunch of LBs in the league better than Nelson. No Lance Wayne at either of the center slots. No Justin Wilson of The Citadel at DL, while somehow Justin Brown of Furman got on the team (he's not even the first or second best DL on the Paladins. The offensive line picks are particularly bad. Matt Isenhour is an All-American and first-team on the coaches team and the previous year's Jacob's Blocking Trophy winner, but somehow got left off the entire ballot. But that is one of several mistakes. The secondary picks are also very strange. One of the problems with the media teams in the SoCon is you have a block of voters in the Spartanburg-Greenville area and few in some of the other areas, like Statesboro and Boone. That is why this team misses the mark so often.

[Mr. C]

Felton was on my Payton Award ballot. The top three backs in the SoCon (you don't just look at raw rushing yards) are Felton, Buckley and Richardson (pick whatever order you want). Felton is a devastating blocker, gets all of the tough inside yards, is a great receiver and does the one thing that is more important than anything else in football. He scores more touchdowns than anybody else

[BULLDOG8180]

I don't think the 2/4 argument by itself carries a lot of water. How do you know that Furman doesn't?

I would think if Furman had 2 of the top 4 they would have ranked a little higher within the conference against conference opponents. After all, if you finish 6-1, and had the 2 of the top 4 RBs, wouldn't you think ball control?

3.6 yd/carry next to last in the conference- these aren't numbers I would expect IF a team had two of the top 4. JMO





Conference games:
RUSHING OFFENSE G Att Yds Avg TD Yds/G
--------------------------------------------------------
1. Wofford............. 7 341 1743 5.1 21 249.0
2. Appalachian State... 7 302 1600 5.3 22 228.6
3. Georgia Southern.... 7 252 1202 4.8 11 171.7
4. The Citadel......... 7 276 1145 4.1 11 163.6
5. Chattanooga......... 7 244 1107 4.5 6 158.1
6. Furman.............. 7 299 1089 3.6 17 155.6
7. Western Carolina.... 7 206 668 3.2 3 95.4
8. Elon................ 7 175 508 2.9 4 72.6

[BestOfBreed]

I would think if Furman had 2 of the top 4 they would have ranked a little higher within the conference against conference opponents. After all, if you finish 6-1, and had the 2 of the top 4 RBs, wouldn't you think ball control?

Face facts, it's just as much a popularity contest as it is a merit award.

[BULLDOG8180]

Face facts, it's just as much a popularity contest as it is a merit award.

Oh I know, I have been there and done that.:smiley_wi

[citdog]

I have to agree with my brother 8180 that several members of our Football Team deserved recognition and didn't get it. Tory Cooper not on the 2nd team at least....... what a joke.

Kevin Higgins is the real SoCon Coach of the Year for taking a team picked to finish 7th at best and getting a lot more out of them. Could Jerry Moore have had the same record with our team? I don't think so, but I think Kevin could have done what Jerry did with his.

[smallcollegefbfan]

On looking at the media team a little closer, there are some screwy picks. No Dexter Jackson as either a return specialist, or a WR. No Julian Rauch as the first-team place kicker (statistically and every other way the best, head and shoulders in the SoCon). He is also brilliant on kickoffs. Gary Nelson on the second team as a LB. There are a bunch of LBs in the league better than Nelson. No Lance Wayne at either of the center slots. No Justin Wilson of The Citadel at DL, while somehow Justin Brown of Furman got on the team (he's not even the first or second best DL on the Paladins. The offensive line picks are particularly bad. Matt Isenhour is an All-American and first-team on the coaches team and the previous year's Jacob's Blocking Trophy winner, but somehow got left off the entire ballot. But that is one of several mistakes. The secondary picks are also very strange. One of the problems with the media teams in the SoCon is you have a block of voters in the Spartanburg-Greenville area and few in some of the other areas, like Statesboro and Boone. That is why this team misses the mark so often.

I agree with your points. Justin Brown should not have made the teams. Is it not true that the SoCon has many more media from Spartanburg and Greenville than most other places?

How did more ASU guys get on the 2nd team defense?

I don't think Isenhour is the best tackle in the league. He is good but not the best. He deserved 1st team but Brown is the better player between the two. I could see Brown a 1st team All-American and Isenhour a 3rd teamer but you know how the media is, they vote heavily based off the year before.

I am baffled at how Wayne is left off at center and Suttle makes first team from both media and coaches. I thought the Citadel center was good too. I was also surprised that GSU did not get Orr on it at tackle. He is a very good one.

[FUwolfpacker]

On looking at the media team a little closer, there are some screwy picks. No Dexter Jackson as either a return specialist, or a WR. No Julian Rauch as the first-team place kicker (statistically and every other way the best, head and shoulders in the SoCon). He is also brilliant on kickoffs. Gary Nelson on the second team as a LB. There are a bunch of LBs in the league better than Nelson. No Lance Wayne at either of the center slots. No Justin Wilson of The Citadel at DL, while somehow Justin Brown of Furman got on the team (he's not even the first or second best DL on the Paladins. The offensive line picks are particularly bad. Matt Isenhour is an All-American and first-team on the coaches team and the previous year's Jacob's Blocking Trophy winner, but somehow got left off the entire ballot. But that is one of several mistakes. The secondary picks are also very strange. One of the problems with the media teams in the SoCon is you have a block of voters in the Spartanburg-Greenville area and few in some of the other areas, like Statesboro and Boone. That is why this team misses the mark so often.

The Rauch, Nelson, Wayne, and Isenhour issues were the first things I noticed too. Nelson is a good guy, but not one of the 6 best LB's in the conference. I have a different opinion about Brown (I think he was possibly the best d-lineman we had this year), but I won't argue b/c I was perplexed by his first team selection too. Wayne and Isenhour being left off both teams completely is a crime. I love Goolsby, but being behind Wayne is not a bad thing.

What's strange about the secondary picks? I'm not saying I agree with them completely...I guess I'm just wondering who you would have put on there Mr. C. You've seen all of these guys (often multiple times), so you would know better than most of us here.

[Mr. C]

I would think if Furman had 2 of the top 4 they would have ranked a little higher within the conference against conference opponents. After all, if you finish 6-1, and had the 2 of the top 4 RBs, wouldn't you think ball control?

3.6 yd/carry next to last in the conference- these aren't numbers I would expect IF a team had two of the top 4. JMO





Conference games:
RUSHING OFFENSE G Att Yds Avg TD Yds/G
--------------------------------------------------------
1. Wofford............. 7 341 1743 5.1 21 249.0
2. Appalachian State... 7 302 1600 5.3 22 228.6
3. Georgia Southern.... 7 252 1202 4.8 11 171.7
4. The Citadel......... 7 276 1145 4.1 11 163.6
5. Chattanooga......... 7 244 1107 4.5 6 158.1
6. Furman.............. 7 299 1089 3.6 17 155.6
7. Western Carolina.... 7 206 668 3.2 3 95.4
8. Elon................ 7 175 508 2.9 4 72.6
I wasn't arguing anything about team stats. Just about Felton. Pound for pound, Felton may be the best player in the FCS, period. He made my top-five when I voted for the Payton this week. That's how good I think he is. Gipson is a very nice player, but not one I would have put on the first, or second teams. For that matter, if he hadn't had such an injury-plagued year, talent-wise Renaldo Gray is as good a QB as there is in the conference (Armanti Edwards would probably even give his older cousin that prop), but I have no problem with Lawson being the second-team QB. Coming off a devastating knee injury, Duran had quite a season.

[Mr. C]

The Rauch, Nelson, Wayne, and Isenhour issues were the first things I noticed too. Nelson is a good guy, but not one of the 6 best LB's in the conference. I have a different opinion about Brown (I think he was possibly the best d-lineman we had this year), but I won't argue b/c I was perplexed by his first team selection too. Wayne and Isenhour being left off both teams completely is a crime. I love Goolsby, but being behind Wayne is not a bad thing.

What's strange about the secondary picks? I'm not saying I agree with them completely...I guess I'm just wondering who you would have put on there Mr. C. You've seen all of these guys (often multiple times), so you would know better than most of us here.
I have a tendancy to break secondary guys down by position, rather than lumping them together. My 1st team safeties were Wiggins and Lynch, my corners were Quintez Smith (about the only good DB for UTC's shaky secondary) and Jerome Touchstone (I'm a big Touchstone fan and he has improved tremendously). My second four were Blocker and Brian Kemp of Wofford (I think he is better than Tavani, though this is apples and oranges) at safeties and Josh Lawson of The Citadel and Brandon Jackson of Georgia Southern at the corners. I liked some of those young secondary guys for the Eagles. They caught my eye as much as any group I saw in person this year. Austin Holmes really doesn't belong on there. That was the main one I was talking about. If it were not for Blocker, the Paladin secondary would be even more challenged than it already is.

[Mr. C]

I agree with your points. Justin Brown should not have made the teams. Is it not true that the SoCon has many more media from Spartanburg and Greenville than most other places?

How did more ASU guys get on the 2nd team defense?

I don't think Isenhour is the best tackle in the league. He is good but not the best. He deserved 1st team but Brown is the better player between the two. I could see Brown a 1st team All-American and Isenhour a 3rd teamer but you know how the media is, they vote heavily based off the year before.

I am baffled at how Wayne is left off at center and Suttle makes first team from both media and coaches. I thought the Citadel center was good too. I was also surprised that GSU did not get Orr on it at tackle. He is a very good one.
I wasn't saying Isenhour was the best tackle in the league, but thought he should have been a first-teamer. I'm also not sold on guard Jeremy Robertson being on either team. He makes too many mistakes for me. My first-team line was:

T Matt Isenhour, ASU
T Marcus Thomas, WCU
G Kerry Brown, ASU
G Marty Bauer, Wofford
C Lance Wayne, GSU

My second team line was:

T Joel Bell, Furman
T John Kivett, Furman
G John Muirhead, Citadel
G Derek Tiller,Wofford
C Scott Suttle, ASU

I'm sure others could pick this apart, since I'm not a line expert. But I don't know how you can overlook guys like Marcus Thomas and Lance Wayne, or those guys for Wofford. You are also right about GSU's Orr and The Citadel center being good, but after awhile, you run out of spots.

[FUwolfpacker]

I have a tendancy to break secondary guys down by position, rather than lumping them together. My 1st team safeties were Wiggins and Lynch, my corners were Quintez Smith (about the only good DB for UTC's shaky secondary) and Jerome Touchstone (I'm a big Touchstone fan and he has improved tremendously). My second four were Blocker and Brian Kemp of Wofford (I think he is better than Tavani, though this is apples and oranges) at safeties and Josh Lawson of The Citadel and Brandon Jackson of Georgia Southern at the corners. I liked some of those young secondary guys for the Eagles. They caught my eye as much as any group I saw in person this year. Austin Holmes really doesn't belong on there. That was the main one I was talking about. If it were not for Blocker, the Paladin secondary would be even more challenged than it already is.

Sounds good too me. As much as I like Holmes (very good guy), he's not one of the top 4 corners in the conference.

Thanks for the kind words about Felton and Gray.

[Baldy]

How Richardson got Offensive POY is beyond me. That honor should have gone to Edwards, hands down. Also, Lance Wayne being left off the squad all together is a travesty.

Two cent time....one controversial pick (or non-pick) I agree with is Isenhour not being chosen. After watching Charrod Taylor absolutely abused him all game long, he has got to be one of the most over rated players in the conference. Sorry.... :twocents:

[gophoenix]

Yes, but Mr. C, if you look at the numbers for Nkang and Elon, you'll see that he isn't nearly the one man show that he was 3 years ago.

That doesn't bother me near as much as Higgins not getting Coach of the Year. I understand that Moore went undefeated, but Moore's team was picked first so he did exactly what was expected, Higgins proved to be better than expected with much less raw talent if you look at the 1st and 2nd teams.

[Mr. C]

The biggest number I see in regards to Nkang is that despite the big tackles numbers, he doesn't create turnovers. All of the great defensive players in the SoCon over the years have been turnover machines, whether it be Dexter Coakley, Dino Hackett or Marques Murrell. Compare Nkang's big plays with those of Wiggins, Lynch and Murrell.

[Mr. C]

No doubt that Kevin Higgins did a spectacular job with The Citadel. And I would site Mike Ayers this year too. I'd have no problem with either of them winning the coach of the year award. But the reason that Jerry Moore is getting these accolades again is the way he has built Appalachian State into an absolute juggernaut that may win back-to-back national championships.

[smallcollegefbfan]

Yes, but Mr. C, if you look at the numbers for Nkang and Elon, you'll see that he isn't nearly the one man show that he was 3 years ago.

That doesn't bother me near as much as Higgins not getting Coach of the Year. I understand that Moore went undefeated, but Moore's team was picked first so he did exactly what was expected, Higgins proved to be better than expected with much less raw talent if you look at the 1st and 2nd teams.

I thought Higgins did a good job, his team was picked 7th and finished 4th. I think Moore deserves some recognition after being on the hotseat just two years ago. At one time, he was all but gone and now people are saying his team should do it so why give it to him? Well, in two years what he has done can not be questioned.

Lembo deserves credit as well for making Elon a legit team and Ayers did finish 3rd in a year where he probably should not have.

I think GSU was the 3rd best team this year and they just underachieved. That seemed to be part of the improved success of others.

You can argue it all day but I do think Moore's success now compared to what was happening is amazing.

[Mr. C]

How Richardson got Offensive POY is beyond me. That honor should have gone to Edwards, hands down. Also, Lance Wayne being left off the squad all together is a travesty.

Two cent time....one controversial pick (or non-pick) I agree with is Isenhour not being chosen. After watching Charrod Taylor absolutely abused him all game long, he has got to be one of the most over rated players in the conference. Sorry.... :twocents:
First off, Charrod Taylor was one of my top four DLs. Secondly, Matt Isenhour was doing his best while nursing a bad shoulder when he played against the extremely strong and talented Taylor. Isenhour hasn't had as good a senior year as his junior season, because of injuries, but he still is one of the top five linemen in the SoCon. What idiot would leave him off the ballot that went out to the voters altogether?

It is the threat of Richardson that opens running lanes for Armanti Edwards. Defenses stack to stop the zone play against ASU. Edwards is still very much a work in progress, like most freshmen. He is a spectacular talent (similar in some ways to Jayson Foster), but he still makes a lot of mistakes. He had about 350 yards against Georgia Southern and still almost cost the Mountaineers the game. He was responsible in one way or another with all but one of those ASU turnovers that day (what were there, like five?). You know I share your view on Lance Wayne. I and some others I've talked to thought that Wayne was probably Kerry Brown's biggest competition for the Jacob's Blocking Trophy this year.

[Baldy]

First off, Charrod Taylor was one of my top four DLs. Secondly, Matt Isenhour was doing his best while nursing a bad shoulder when he played against the extremely strong and talented Taylor. Isenhour hasn't had as good a senior year as his junior season, because of injuries, but he still is one of the top five linemen in the SoCon.
Gotcha. :thumbsup: Injuries suck. :nod:

It's a shame this was Charrod's senior year because it seems he has yet to reach his full potential. While the NFL is doubtful at best for him, hopefully he'll get a shot in Canada.

[james_lawfirm]

It looks like a good list to me. I'm glad that they didn't "penalize" Edwards for being a Freshman because he deserves the first-team award.

I'm more and more impressed with Jerry Moore every year as well. What a class guy and a great coach.

:hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: