d2football.com honors Wildcats
1/23/2009 6:00:00 AM | Football
ABILENE ? Seven ACU football standouts were chosen NCAA Division II all-America by d2football.com with three of those players earning first team honors.
Senior running back Bernard Scott, senior center Sam Collins and junior offensive tackle Tony Washington were all selected first team all-America on the squad, which was released Friday. Senior quarterback Billy Malone, senior wide receiver Johnny Knox and senior offensive guard Joseph Thompson were chosen second team all-America, and senior placekicker Matt Adams was chosen 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.
Washington was a first team all-LSC South Division selection who was named the division's Offensive Lineman of the Year. He, Collins and Thompson were integral parts 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).
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.
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.
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.
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