Kats Dominate Southland Postseason Awards
11/22/2016 1:11:00 PM | Football
FRISCO, Texas – On the heels of a perfect regular season and their seventh Southland Conference title, Sam Houston State had 20 players earn all-Southland conference honors on Tuesday in an announcement from the league office.
Included in the 20 all-conference mentions are 10 selections to the first team and six of the seven available league superlatives. Junior quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe was named the league's Player of the Year, while wide receiver Yedidiah Louis was the Offensive Player of the Year.
Additionally, senior offensive lineman Bridge Blount became the second straight Bearkat to claim Offensive Lineman of the Year. Nathan Stewart took the honors as the Southland's top freshman and defensive end P.J. Hall claimed Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Capping it off was head coach K.C. Keeler, who was named the Southland Coach of the Year, the fourth time a Bearkat head man has taken that honor.
It is the first time in Southland history that one school has won honors for the league's top coach, offensive player, defensive player and freshman.
First-team selections for the Kats include Briscoe (QB), Corey Avery (RB), Louis (WR), Stewart (WR), Blount (OL), Tyler Tezeno (OL), Hall (DL), Justin Johnson (LB), Darion Flowers (DB) and Joseph Figenshaw (P).
Bearkats on the second team include Remus Bulmer (RB), Davion Davis (WR), Curtis Riser (OL), Mouf Adebo (DL) and Jaylen Harris (KR).
Sam Houston also boasts five players to receive an honorable mention, including James De La Rosa (DL), A.J. Davis (LB), Sione Latu (DL), Tyrel Stokes (DB) and Luc Swimberghe (K).
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE COACH OF THE YEAR – K.C. KEELER
Keeler joins Willie Fritz and Ron Randelman as Bearkat coaches to win the Southland Conference Coach of the Year honor. It is the first such honor for Keeler since taking over the Bearkats in 2014, leading them to the FCS playoffs in each of his three seasons.
This year the Kats finished the regular season 11-0 for just the second time in program history and held the No. 1 spot in the STATS FCS and NCAA Coaches' polls for the final six weeks of the season. They will enter the FCS Playoffs as the No. 5 overall seed.
It was a milestone season for Keeler, who earned his 200th career win on Oct. 1 in a win in the Battle of the Piney Woods over Stephen F. Austin. He is now 207-86-1 in his 23rd year of coaching between stops at Rowan, Delaware and Sam Houston and is the ninth-fastest coach to reach the 200-win mark in the history of college football.
This season is the 13th 10-win season in his career and gives him a 33-9 record as the Bearkat head man, including 23-3 in Southland Conference play.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE YEAR – JEREMIAH BRISCOE
Briscoe has directed the Bearkat offense to a record-setting season in 2016 and enters the playoffs having already set a new Southland Conference single-season record with 52 touchdown passes, smashing the former record of 48 that had been held by Stephen F. Austin's Todd Hammel since 1989.
It is the sixth time since Sam Houston joined the Southland that it has captured a Player of the Year honor with Briscoe being the first since Timothy Flanders did so in both the 2011 and 2012 seasons. He currently leads all of FCS in touchdown passes (52), passing yards (4,096), passing yards per game (372.4) and pass efficiency (187.0).
Briscoe was named to the Walter Payton Award watch list earlier in the season and has posted five games with at least 400 passing yards in addition to throwing for at least five touchdowns in six of 11 games, including each of the last four games of the regular season. He now owns each of the top four single-game touchdown marks at Sam Houston, all coming this year with the previous record being just five, and had two games – vs SFA, vs UCA – with seven touchdown passes.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR – YEDIDIAH LOUIS
Louis becomes the fifth Bearkat to land Offensive Player of the Year honors, and the second in a row after Jared Johnson claimed the award a year ago.
He currently leads the Southland Conference in receptions (65), receiving yards (977) and is tied with teammate Nathan Stewart for the league lead with 11 touchdown catches. The versatile Bearkat slot man also ranks fourth in the league in all-purpose yards (102.7).
He closed out the regular season with a bang, hauling in nine passes for a career-best 168 yards and tying a program record with four touchdown receptions in Sam Houston's win over Central Arkansas that finished off a perfect regular season and clinched the SLC crown. That came just one game after he set a new career-best with 11 catches against Northwestern State.
This season he has posted five games with better than 100 yards receiving, catching touchdown passes in each of the last four games and in seven games overall.
For his career Louis now needs just five catches to move past Matt Dominguez for the all-time receptions record at Sam Houston and his 2,774 yards ranks third all-time. With 23 more yards receiving he will hit the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR – P.J. HALL
Hall is the third Bearkat to take the Southland's Defensive Player of the Year award, joining Darnell Taylor (2011 and 2012) and Keith Davis (2000).
The dominant Bearkat junior defensive end leads the Southland with 21 tackles for loss and three fumble recoveries this season and his 9.5 sacks ranks second. Hall has been named the league's defensive player of the week twice and earned national player of the week honors after his efforts in a win at Lamar.
Hall is on the Buck Buchanan Award watch list (national defensive player of the year) and has picked up at least one tackle behind the line of scrimmage in eight games in 2016, including three games with at least 4.5. He tied the Sam Houston school record in the Kats' win over McNeese, picking up four sacks and forcing a fumble against the Cowboys.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR – NATHAN STEWART
Stewart burst on to the scene with five catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns in the Battle of the Piney Woods and has been one of Sam Houston's top offensive threats ever since. He is the fifth Bearkat to win the league's Freshman of the Year honor and first since Hall did so from the defensive side in 2014.
The freshman from Dallas currently ranks second in the Southland, only behind Louis, with 47 catches and 903 receiving yards and his tied with him with 11 touchdown catches. His yardage and touchdown totals lead all freshmen nationally, while his 19.2 yards per catch ranks 10th in the nation among all players.
He is also on the Jerry Rice Award watch list (national freshman of the year) and was named the Southland Conference and STATS FCS national player of the week on Nov. 7 after setting a Southland Conference record of 268 receiving yards on 12 catches with three touchdowns in the win over McNeese.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE LINEMAN OF THE YEAR – BRIDGE BLOUNT
A Huntsville native, Blount made a successful transition from guard to center as a senior and has been the trigger man for an offensive line that has paved the way for the nation's top offense. It is the second straight season the Bearkats have claimed the league's honor for top offensive lineman after Donald Jackson III received it in 2015.
He has started all 11 games at center this season after being named honorable mention all-SLC at guard each of the last two years. Behind him the Kats have averaged 54.2 points and 584.0 yards per game in 2016, while ranking fifth in the country in allowing just eight sacks for the year.
All-SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM
Jeremiah Briscoe (QB), Corey Avery (RB), Yedidiah Louis (WR), Nathan Stewart (WR), Bridge Blount (OL), Tyler Tezeno (OL), Justin Johnson (LB), Darion Flowers (DB), Joseph Figenshaw (P)
In all, the Kats took nine of the 29 available spot on the all-SLC first team. It was the second straight year on the first team for junior running back Corey Avery, who finished the regular season fourth in the league with 709 yards in 10 games to go with a league-best nine rushing touchdowns.
Tyler Tezeno got his first all-SLC honors and joined Blount on the first team offensive line after starting all 11 games at right guard for the Kats, while sophomore linebacker Justin Johnson was a first-team choice after leading Sam Houston and ranking 11th in the league with 83 total tackles.
Defensive back Darion Flowers only played in six games on the season, but made enough of an impression to garner a first-team nod. The senior cornerback picked off three passes and forced a fumble in four games, along with 33 tackles.
Punter Joseph Figenshaw rounded out Sam Houston's first-team choices. He took over full-time punting duties this season and led the league with 44.6 yards per kick, helping the Bearkat special teams pace the Southland in overall punting and net punting.
All-SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM
Remus Bulmer (RB), Davion Davis (WR), Curtis Riser (OL), Mouf Adebo (DL), Jaylen Harris (KR)
Sam Houston added five more players to the second team, including running back Remus Bulmer. The sophomore finished the regular season averaging 6.8 yards per carry with 806 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns in leading the Kats to the No. 2 rushing attack in the SLC.
Wide receiver Davion Davis also earned all-league honors for the first time after a regular season that saw him go for 838 yards receiving and nine touchdowns. He is part of a Bearkat wide receiver trio that holds the top three spots in the Southland in total receiving yards and touchdowns. Between he, Louis and Stewart the Kats have a chance at becoming just the third FCS team in history to have three 1,000-yard receivers in the same year.
Curtis Riser is the third Bearkat offensive lineman to earn all-league honors, making Sam Houston the only school in 2016 with three offensive linemen landing on either the first or second team.
Mouf Adebo made a successful return to the Kats after missing nearly all of 2015 with an injury. He earned postseason honors as both a freshman and sophomore and ranks seventh in the Southland with 5.5 sacks and eighth with 10.5 tackles for loss.
The Kats also landed another special teams player on the all-SLC team with Jaylen Harris' selection as a kick return specialist. His 26.0 yards per return ranks second in the league and 20th in the country and he has seven returns this season of at least 40 yards. He was named the league's special teams player of the week after his performance at UIW.
