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 Senior Eddie Cohen was named first-team All-Southern Conference after finishing with a school-record 1,208 yards receiving this season. |
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Nov. 19, 2007
Cohen's Season/Career Stats - Malone's Season/Career Stats - Phillips' Season Stats
Cullowhee, N.C. - Two days after raising the bar for Catamount receivers for yards in a single-season, Western Carolina senior wide out Eddie Cohen was tabbed first team All-Southern Conference by the league's 11 head coaches today headlining a trio of Catamounts named to the honorary post-season teams. Cohen was joined on the second team defense by junior linebacker Quinton Phillips and return specialist Mike Malone.
SoCon regular season co-champion Appalachian State placed a league-best 11 players on the all-conference team with six players on offense, four on defense and one specialist. Georgia Southern, which rebounded from a 3-8 mark in 2006 to post a 7-4 record in 2007, had nine players gain All-SoCon honors including five on offense, three on defense and one specialist. Conference co-champion Wofford had seven players honored including three on offense and four on defense.
Furman had a total of six players named to the team, followed by The Citadel and Elon each with five, Chattanooga with four and Western Carolina with three, as one offensive, one defensive and one specialist player were honored.
Cohen, a senior from Hilton Head, S.C., used six-straight 100-yard plus receiving games to break Western's 29-year old single-season receiving yardage record held by former Catamount standout, Gerald Harp (1977-80). Cohen became just the ninth WCU receiver all-time to breach the 1,000-yard mark by finishing with 1,208 receiving yards and nine touchdowns to surpass Harp's previous benchmark of 1,145 by 63 yards. The record-breaking reception came on Cohen's second catch of the day - a 33-yard pass and catch from senior quarterback Todd Spitzer around the six-minute mark of the first quarter in the season finale against Furman.
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During his record-setting season, Cohen became just the fourth different Catamount to ever eclipse the 200-yard receiving barrier, posting the third-best single-game performance in the purple and gold with 212 yards at Georgia Southern to set a Paulson Stadium record. He also tied for the second-most catches in a game with 12 against Elon tying former WCU standout and coach, Lamont Seward (2000-03). He and Spitzer also hooked up for the longest scoring play in the league this season, an 82-yard TD reception at Appalachian State.
Cohen concluded his collegiate career with 142 catches, tied for 8th in WCU history, for 2,173 yards and 15 touchdowns, tied for sixth all-time in the WCU record books.
Malone, a senior from Gainesville, Ga., was tabbed a second team return specialist after leading the Southern Conference - and ranking fourth nationally - in all-purpose yards with a combined average of 194.82 yards per game. He shattered the school records for kickoff returns in a single game with nine at Appalachian State; kickoff returns in a single-season with 58; and kickoff returns in a career, finishing with 108 to surpass the previous mark of 84 held by all-time WCU great Kerry Hayes (1991-94). He also became just the fourth Catamount since 1969 - and the first since Tracy Biggs (1996-2000) - to lead the team in kickoff return yardage for three-consecutive seasons.
Senior all-purpose runner, Mike Malone |
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Malone finished fifth in the SoCon and 48th nationally in yards per return at 23.84. He seemingly saved his best for last, though, taking a pitch from sophomore Marcus Brown and rushing straight ahead into a pile before busting it to his left and racing down the sidelines for a season-best, 71-yard return for a touchdown - the second of his career - against Furman in the season finale.
In addition to his return yardage records, Malone also set WCU benchmarks for all-purpose yards in a single-game with 326 at Appalachian State and surpassed former standout, Otis Washington (1985-88) for all-purpose yards in a season with 2,143 yards this year. In the offensive backfield, Malone twice surpassed the 100-yard barrier, rushing for a career-high 151 yards at Appalachian State as a part of his all-purpose yard record.
Phillips, a junior who transferred to Western, posted five games with double-digit tackles, including tallying the top two single-game performances in the SoCon this season with 20 total hits, including 12 solos, against The Citadel at home and 19 stops at Georgia Southern. The Charlotte, N.C., native finished with 127 total tackles this season, including 63 solo stops, to rank second in the conference, tied for 10th nationally and fifth on Western's single-season tackle chart.
Junior linebacker, Quinton Phillips (50) |
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Phillips, who had 7.5 tackles for loss, forced a fumble and picked off one pass, was also a two-time SoCon Defensive Player of the Week, only one of two players in the league to accomplish the feat this season.
2007 Coaches All-Southern Conference Team
Offensive Player of the Year: Jayson Foster, GSU
Defensive Player of the Year: Corey Lynch, ASU
Freshman of the Year: Scott Riddle, Elon
Jacobs Blocking Trophy Recipient: Kerry Brown, ASU
Coach of the Year: Mike Ayers, WOF and Pete Lembo, Elon
Offense - First Team
QB- Jayson Foster, GSU
RB- Kevin Richardson, ASU
RB- Kevious Johnson, WOF
OL- Kerry Brown, ASU
OL- Joel Bell, FUR
OL- Scott Suttle, ASU
OL- Chris McDowell, CIT
OL- Russell Orr, GSU
TE- Larry Hedden, FUR
WR- Terrell Hudgins, Elon
WR- Eddie Cohen, WCU
Defense - First Team
DL- Wallace Artis, FUR
DL- Larry Beard, GSU
DL- Gary Tharrington, ASU
DL- Trevar Broughton, CIT
LB- Seth Goldwire, WOF
LB- Andrew Rowell, CIT
LB- Corey Weaver, Elon
DB- Corey Lynch, ASU
DB- Chris Camacho, UTC
DB- Josh Lawson, CIT
DB- Jerome Touchstone, ASU
Offense - Second Team
QB- Armanti Edwards, ASU
RB- Lamar Lewis, GSU
RB- Jerome Felton, FUR
OL- Marcelo Estrada, GSU
OL- Derek Wooten, WOF
OL- Garrett Windham, UTC
OL- Brad Coley, ASU
OL- Brad Williams, GSU
TE- Fenn Allen, WOF
WR- Michael Mayers, Elon
WR- Dexter Jackson, ASU
Defense - Second Team
DL- Damon Suggs, GSU
DL- Anthony Williams, ASU
DL- James Gonsoulin, WOF
DL- Charles Profit, UTC
LB- Chris Johnson, UTC
LB- Andrew Jones, FUR
LB- Quinton Phillips, WCU
DB- Chris Covington, GSU
DB- Brian Kemp, WOF
DB- Dan Tavani, WOF
DB- Thomas Twitty, FUR
Specialists - First Team
PK- Julian Rauch, ASU
RS- Michael Mayers, Elon
P- Brandon Lane, Elon
Specialists - Second Team
PK- Jesse Hartley, GSU
RS- Mike Malone, WCU
P- Mark Kaspar, CIT
