2017 All-SoCon Teams

[smallcollegefbfan]

2017 Media All-Southern Conference Football Team

Roy M. “Legs” Hawley Offensive Player of the Year – Devlin Hodges, R-Jr., QB, Samford
Defensive Player of the Year – Ahmad Gooden, Samford, Jr., DL
Freshman of the Year – Kaelan Riley, Mercer, QB
Wallace Wade Coach of the Year – Clay Hendrix, Furman

First team offense
QB Devlin Hodges, Samford
RB Detrez Newsome, Western Carolina
RB Andre Stoddard, Wofford
OL Tyler Davis, The Citadel
OL Terrell Bush, Furman
OL Matthew Schmidt, Furman
OL Roo Daniels, Wofford
OL Ross Demmel, Wofford
TE Andy Schumpert, Furman
WR Kelvin McKnight, Samford
WR Terryon Robinson, Western Carolina

First team defense
DL Nasir Player, ETSU
DL Isaiah Buehler, Mercer
DL Ahmad Gooden, Samford
DL Miles Brown, Wofford
LB Lee Bennett, Mercer
LB Shaheed Salmon, Samford
LB Allan Cratsenberg, VMI
DB Aron Spann III, The Citadel
DB Omari Williams, Samford
DB Marvin Tillman, Western Carolina
DB Devin Watson, Wofford

First team special teams
PK Luke Carter, Wofford
P Ian Berryman, Western Carolina
RS Chandler Curtis, Mercer

Second team offense
QB P.J. Blazejowski, Furman
RB Kealand Dirks, Furman
RB Antonio Wilcox, Furman
RB Tee Mitchell, Mercer
OL Thomas Marchman, Mercer
OL Josh Cardiello, Chattanooga
OL Andrew Miles, Western Carolina
OL Zach Weeks, Western Carolina
OL Jared Jacon-Duffy, Wofford
TE Bailey Lenoir, Chattanooga
WR Marquise Irvin, Mercer
WR Chris Shelling, Samford

Second team defense
DL Ja'Lon Williams, The Citadel
DL Jaylan Reid, Furman
DL Nate Link, Western Carolina
DL Mikel Horton, Wofford
LB Myles Pierce, The Citadel
LB Brian Lipscomb, VMI
LB A.J. Newman, Western Carolina
DB Aaquil Annoor, Furman
DB Eric Jackson, Mercer
DB Lucas Webb, Chattanooga
DB Greg Sanders, VMI

Second team special teams
PK JJ Jerman, ETSU
P Austin Barnard, Samford
RS Darius Harvey, Samford

[smallcollegefbfan]

2017 Coaches All-Southern Conference Football Team

Offensive Player of the Year – Devlin Hodges, R-Jr., QB, Samford
Defensive Player of the Year – Ahmad Gooden, Samford, Jr., DL
Freshman of the Year – Kaelan Riley, Mercer, QB
Jacobs Blocking Award – Matthew Schmidt, Furman, Sr., OL
Coach of the Year – Clay Hendrix, Furman


First team offense
QB Devlin Hodges, Samford
RB Antonio Wilcox, Furman
RB Detrez Newsome, Western Carolina
OL Tyler Davis, The Citadel
OL Terrell Bush, Furman
OL Matthew Schmidt, Furman
OL Zach Weeks, Western Carolina
OL Ross Demmel, Wofford
TE Andy Schumpert, Furman
WR Kelvin McKnight, Samford
WR Terryon Robinson, Western Carolina

First team defense
DL Isaiah Buehler, Mercer
DL Ahmad Gooden, Samford
DL Miles Brown, Wofford
DL Tyler Vaughn, Wofford
LB Lee Bennett, Mercer
LB Shaheed Salmon, Samford
LB Tahjai Watt, Western Carolina
DB Kailik Williams, The Citadel
DB Omari Williams, Samford
DB Lucas Webb, Chattanooga
DB Marvin Tillman, Western Carolina
DB Devin Watson, Wofford

First team special teams
PK Luke Carter, Wofford
P Ian Berryman, Western Carolina
RS Chandler Curtis, Mercer

Second team offense
QB Tyrie Adams, Western Carolina
RB Tee Mitchell, Mercer
RB Andre Stoddard, Wofford
OL Alex Rios, ETSU
OL Thomas Marchman, Mercer
OL Austin Sanders, Mercer
OL Nick Nixon, Samford
OL Josh Cardiello, Chattanooga
TE Bailey Lenoir, Chattanooga
WR Chris Shelling, Samford
WR Steffon Hill, Western Carolina

Second team defense
DL Jaylan Reid, Furman
DL Isaiah Mack, Chattanooga
DL Derek Mahaffey, Chattanooga
DL Mikel Horton, Wofford
LB Myles Pierce, The Citadel
LB LeMarkus Bailey, Mercer
LB Allan Cratsenberg, VMI
DB Aron Spann III, The Citadel
DB Aaquil Annoor, Furman
DB Darius Harvey, Samford
DB Greg Sanders, VMI

Second team special teams
PK JJ Jerman, ETSU
P Austin Barnard, Samford
RS Quan Harrison, ETSU

All-Freshman Offense
Jonathan Cole, The Citadel
Jon Barrett Lewis, The Citadel
Brandon Rainey, The Citadel
Reed Kroeber, Furman
Darius Morehead, Furman
Kaelan Riley, Mercer
Montrell Washington, Samford
Mike Williams, Samford
Cole Copeland, Chattanooga
Kris Thornton, VMI
Donnavan Spencer, Western Carolina

All-Freshman Defense
Blake Bockrath, ETSU
Reynard Ellis, Furman
Elijah McKoy, Furman
Malique Fleming, Mercer
Sidney Otiwu, Mercer
Koi Freeman, Samford
Brett Granger, Samford
Jerrell Lawson, Chattanooga
A.J. Smith, VMI
Michael Murphy, Western Carolina
Deon Priester, Wofford

All-Freshman Special Teams
Grayson Atkins, Furman
Brandon Dowdell, Chattanooga
Victor Ulmo, Chattanooga

[SU DOG]

Just from my perspective, pretty much spot-on lists.

[Reign of Terrier]

I'm a Wofford fan, but I think JJ Jerman deserved first team honors over Carter. Carter's a good kicker who improved over the course of the year, and is percentage-wise the best place kicker in the conference.

Having said that, Jerman had the better leg (I want to say he kicked touchbacks about 70% of the time) and the longer field goal this year.

Jerman is going to be pivotal next year. Look out for ETSU; they have a kicker, a great QB and a decent defense (somehow got to third in total defense in the conference?).


As for Wofford's representation, I'm okay with it. On defense I think Vaughn and Brown and Watson deserved it and if they had been left out I would have objected. Vaughn made the coaches list I think

I kind of scratch my head on Roo and Horton being listed. It's not that they aren't good players, but they only have about 5 games of productivity each due to injury and Horton's early 2 game suspension.

[kdinva]

0-11 or not, Ryan Francis is one of the five best LB's in the SoCon.......a shame....

[PaladinNation]

From a Furman perspective… amazing stuff for a team that had what four players on the pre-season list???

The only possible addition for Furman - Sophomore Thomas Gordon. 3rd in the SoCon in receiving yards per game (65.7).
All purpose yards 102 pre game (4th in SoCon). Only played in 9 games that might be what hurt his chances and that Gordo only scored one touchdown.

[PaladinFan]

From a Furman perspective… amazing stuff for a team that had what four players on the pre-season list???

The only possible addition for Furman - Sophomore Thomas Gordon. 3rd in the SoCon in receiving yards per game (65.7).
All purpose yards 102 pre game (4th in SoCon). Only played in 9 games that might be what hurt his chances and that Gordo only scored one touchdown.

Impressive on a team that runs it as much as Furman does and distributes the ball to a lot of different receivers.

The big "out of left field" guy is Schumpert. 483 yards receiving and 7 daggum touchdowns as a TE. That's pretty crazy for a guy that switched positions right before the season started.

[Milktruck74]

My Mocs have 4 on the All-Freshman team, is this because we have a crew of talented freshmen, or we were so injured (and just bad) that we were forced to play freshmen???? The list looks pretty good, nobody stands out that shouldn't be there.

[benwofford]

I'm a Wofford fan, but I think JJ Jerman deserved first team honors over Carter. Carter's a good kicker who improved over the course of the year, and is percentage-wise the best place kicker in the conference.

Having said that, Jerman had the better leg (I want to say he kicked touchbacks about 70% of the time) and the longer field goal this year.

Jerman is going to be pivotal next year. Look out for ETSU; they have a kicker, a great QB and a decent defense (somehow got to third in total defense in the conference?).


As for Wofford's representation, I'm okay with it. On defense I think Vaughn and Brown and Watson deserved it and if they had been left out I would have objected. Vaughn made the coaches list I think

I kind of scratch my head on Roo and Horton being listed. It's not that they aren't good players, but they only have about 5 games of productivity each due to injury and Horton's early 2 game suspension.


I disagree; both Luke Carter and Roo Daniels were richly deserving of first team picks. Carter not only had the highest field goal percentage in the SoCon, he had the second highest in the entire FCS. Perhaps more important, his kicks were the margin of victory in 4 and maybe 5 Wofford games. That’s why he was SoCon POTW three times during the season, a remarkable achievement in itself. And Daniels was a bear in the middle of that line. He was injured (twice), and probably returned too soon, but that was a reflection of his determination and inspiration. He was a spark plug for the offense. But you know all of this , YT, you’re a loyal Terrier, and thieve are sons of Old Main.