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 Senior wide receiver Eddie Cohen was named first team All-SoCon by both the league's head coaches and voting members of the SoCon Sports Media Association. |
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Nov. 21, 2007
Cullowhee, N.C. - Four Western Carolina Catamount football players, including three that were recognized by the league's head coaches on Monday, were named to the All-Southern Conference first and second teams today as selected by the voting members of the SoCon Sports Media Association.
Senior wide receiver Eddie Cohen was selected to the first team offense for the second time in as many days, with junior linebacker Quinton Phillips earning first team defense accolades after being tabbed second team by the coaches. Senior Mike Malone was again tabbed second team return specialist, with junior defensive lineman Jeff Bradley capturing an all-conference nod from the media on the honorary second team.
Southern Conference regular season co-champion Appalachian State placed a league-high 11 players on the all-conference team with four players on offense, six on defense and one specialist. Furman landed eight players on the all-conference squad including three on offense and five on defense, while SoCon co-champion - and winner of the league's automatic playoff berth - Wofford and The Citadel each had seven players recognized.
Elon and Georgia Southern both had six players honored, followed by Western Carolina with four players and Chattanooga with one defensive player honored on the first team.
Cohen broke a 29-yard old WCU single-season receiving record with 1,208 receiving yards this season, including posting six-straight, 100-yard receiving games. He surpassed former Catamount standout, Gerald Harp (1977-80), with a 33-yard gain in the first half in the season finale against Furman. Cohen, a native of Hilton Head, S.C., is just the ninth WCU receiver all-time to breach the 1,000-yard receiving mark in a season.
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Malone was again tabbed second team All-SoCon as a return specialist after ranking fifth in the league and 48th nationally in yards per return (23.84) with one touchdown coming on his final return of the season. Most teams this season shied away from kicking to the Gainesville, Ga., native who led the SoCon - and ranked fourth nationally - in all-purpose yards with a combined average of 194.82 yards per game. Malone shattered the school records for kickoff returns in a single game (9); kickoff returns in a single-season (58); and kickoff returns in a career (108). He also established a school benchmark for all-purpose yards in a season finishing with 2,143 yards.
Junior Jeff Bradley was a fourth Catamount named to the All-Southern Conference team by the media after being left off the honorary squad by the league's head coaches. The Lewisville, N.C., native led Western with 15 total tackles for a combined 58 yards in losses to rank tied for 10th with former Catamount greats Michale Spicer (2000-03) and Derek Summerour (1992-95) on the single-season leader board. Bradley's 15 TFLs tied him for third in the SoCon and tied for 29th nationally (1.36 per game), while his team-high 4.5 sacks ranked tied for fourth in the conference and just inside the top 100 among the NCAA FCS (0.41 per game).
Bradley was the second leading tackler on the team among defensive linemen with 43 tackles, including 23 solo stops, and was unofficially credited with five quarterback hurries. He posted a career-high seven tackles, including three for losses and 1.5 sacks, against Elon, while also recording three TFLs in Boone against Appalachian State. In addition, his 23-yard fumble recovery and return against Wofford sparked WCU's 41-point second half in the near come-from-behind performance against the then 11th-ranked Terriers.
Southern Conference Sports Media Association 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*
Coach of the Year: Pete Lembo, Elon
Offense - First Team
QB- Jayson Foster, GSU
RB- Kevin Richardson, ASU
RB- Kevious Johnson, WOF
OL- Scott Suttle, ASU
OL- Kerry Brown, ASU
OL- Russell Orr, GSU
OL- Joel Bell, FUR
OL- Chris McDowell, CIT
TE- Larry Hedden, FUR
WR- Terrell Hudgins, Elon
WR- Eddie Cohen, WCU
PK- Julian Rauch, ASU
RS- Michael Mayers, Elon
Defense - First Team
DL- Wallace Artis, FUR
DL- Gary Tharrington, ASU
DL- Trevar Broughton, CIT
DL- Larry Beard, GSU
LB- Pierre Banks, ASU
LB- Seth Goldwire, WOF
LB- Quinton Phillips, WCU
DB- Corey Lynch, ASU
DB- Chris Camacho, UTC
DB- Chris Covington, GSU
DB- Josh Lawson, CIT
P- Brandon Lane, Elon
Offense - Second Team
QB- Scott Riddle, Elon
RB- Jerome Felton, FUR
RB- Tory Cooper, CIT
OL- Ben Quick, WOF
OL- Corey McKenna, WOF
OL- Derek Wooten, WOF
OL- Marcelo Estrada, GSU
OL- John Holt, ASU
TE- Fenn Allen, WOF
WR- Michael Mayers, Elon
WR- Andre Roberts, CIT
PK- Jesse Hartley, GSU
RS- Mike Malone, WCU
Defense - Second Team
DL- Justin Brown, FUR
DL- Anthony Williams, ASU
DL- Jeff Bradley, WCU
DL- Tony Robertson, ASU
LB- Corey Weaver, Elon
LB- Andrew Rowell, CIT
LB- Andrew Jones, FUR
DB- Thomas Twitty, FUR
DB- Dan Tavani, WOF
DB- Andrew Thacker, FUR
DB- Jerome Touchstone, ASU
P- Mark Kaspar, CIT
*- Unanimous selection
