ABILENE ? Two ACU football players have been named first team NCAA Division II all-America on the Don Hansen's Football Gazette team and seven players overall have been honored on the team, which was released Friday.
The first team selections are no surprise as Harlon Hill Award winner
Bernard Scott and Gene Upshaw Award winner
Sam Collins were each named first team all-America. Junior offensive tackle
Tony Washington was voted second team all-America, while senior offensive guard
Joseph Thompson and senior placekicker
Matt Adams were each voted third team all-America. Sophomore fullback
Emery Dudensing and senior quarterback
Billy Malone were each voted honorable mention all-America.
Scott ? the first Wildcat to win the award given each year to the top player in NCAA Division II football ? ran for 2,156 yards (second in LSC and ACU single-season history behind his 2,165 yards in 2007) and 28 touchdowns and caught 47 passes for 826 yards and another six touchdowns. He led NCAA Division II in points per game (17.0) and all-purpose yards (256.8 yards per game) and was second in rushing, averaging 179.7 yards per game.
He led ACU to an 11-1 record, the program's first outright Lone Star Conference championship since 1973, the program's highest-ever NCAA Division II national ranking (No. 2) and to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. Scott averaged 8.4 yards per carry and rushed for more than 200 yards in four of the Wildcats' final six games of the 2008 season. Scott ran for at least 100 yards in his last 17 games dating back to the 2007 season.
Collins ? the first Wildcat to win the award given each year to the top lineman in NCAA Division II football ? started a school-record 46 straight games at center from Week 1 of the 2005 season through the end of the 2008 season. The Wildcats' offensive play over the course of Collins' career has been unparalleled in ACU history, especially over the last three seasons. From 2006-08 (covering 36 games in which ACU went 29-7 with one Lone Star Conference championship and three straight trips to the NCAA Division II playoffs), the Wildcats racked up 18,548 yards of total offense, 215 offensive touchdowns and 1,657 points.
While the offense averaged 515.2 yards and 46.0 points per game in those 36 games, Collins and his offensive linemates allowed ACU quarterbacks to be sacked just 28 times, including eight times in each of the last two seasons. That's a staggeringly low number considering Wildcat quarterbacks dropped back to pass 1,218 times over the last three seasons. On average, ACU quarterbacks were sacked just once every 43.5 pass attempts over the last three seasons.
Along with Collins, Washington and Thompson were key cogs on an ACU offensive line that was one of the nation's top units over the last two seasons. Those three helped lead 2008 ACU offense, which finished No. 1 in Division II football in total offense (558.8 yards per game) and scoring offense (52.3 points per game), while finishing second in the nation in sacks allowed per game (0.67).
Adams put together the greatest career of any placekicker in ACU history, and arguably the greatest career by any LSC placekicker. He leaves ACU as the conference and ACU career record-holder in PATs (213), PAT attempts (222) and kicking points (339). Last season he set the LSC and ACU record for PATs in a season (82) and PAT attempts in a season (86), and his 117 kicking points in 2008 is the new LSC and ACU single-season record, passing the 115 points he scored last year.
In 2008, Malone wrapped up a career that saw him become the LSC and ACU all-time leader in completions, attempts, yards, touchdown passes, completion percentage, total offensive yards and total offensive yards per game.
Malone is the only quarterback to lead the Wildcats to the NCAA Division II playoffs, and he did so in 2006, 2007 and 2008. In 2008 he led the Wildcats to only the second perfect regular season in program history and the program's first outright LSC championship since 1973.
Dudensing started all 12 ACU games in 2008 and was a punishing lead-blocker for Scott over the course of the last two seasons. In 2008 he caught seven passes for 56 yards.
The Football Gazette also released its all-Super Region 4 team on Friday with seven Wildcats earning first team honors and 11 players overall earning all-region honors.
The first team selections were Malone, Scott, Dudensing, Collins, Washington, Adams and wide receiver
Johnny Knox. Sophomore wide receiver
Edmund Gates and Thompson were voted second team all-region and redshirt freshman defensive end
Aston Whiteside and senior linebacker
Mike Kern were voted third team all-region.
Knox finished the season with 56 catches for 1,069 yards and 13 touchdowns, giving him 1187 catches for 2,227 yards and 30 touchdowns on his career. Knox finished as the Wildcats' all-time leader in touchdown receptions, tied for sixth on ACU's career receptions list and fifth on ACU's career yardage list.
Whiteside ? the LSC South Division Freshman of the Year and co-Defensive Lineman of the Year ? led the Wildcats in sacks (9.0) and tackles for loss (16.0) and scored a pair of defensive touchdowns. Kern ? an all-LSC South Division performer in his own right ? led the Wildcats in tackles (65) and had a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown in the Wildcats' 59-10 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State on Sept. 20.
