FERRUM, Va. - Ferrum College had 13 players named to the 2008 USA South Athletic Conference All-Conference Football Team, including five first team selections.
Christopher Newport University's Matt Kelchner and Tunde Ogun were named Coach of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year, respectively. Maryville College's Kyle Chewning was named Defensive Player of the Year, North Carolina Wesleyan College's Stedman Mathis earned Offensive Rookie of the Year and Averett University's Mario Huffman captured defensive Rookie of the Year.
Earning All-Conference first team honors for Ferrum were punter
TJ Grzesikowski, fullback
Matt Lucas, offensive lineman
Dexter Hinds, defensive lineman
Willie Taylor, and defensive back
Zack Brown.
Grzesikowski is a repeat on the All-Conference team from a year ago when he earned honorable mention. He closed out the 2008 season with a 43.81 punting average, winning the NCAA Division III punting statistical championship. Grzesikowski had 47 punts for 2059 yards this season. He dropped 15 punts inside the 20 yard line, had nine carry for 50 or more yards, and had a long punt of 63 yards.
Lucas is a repeat first team selection. He rushed for 475 yards and a touchdown on 88 carries this season, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. Brown is also a repeat on the All-Conference team, having earned second team honors a year ago. He was in on 50 tackles this year, including 20 solo and 30 assisted. Brown recorded 8.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, two pass breakups, two forced fumbles and a QB harassment.
Hinds helped Ferrum's offense average 367 yards per game, including 290.8 on the ground. This is Hinds' first All-Conference honor.
Taylor was in on 62 tackles this season, including 21 solo stops and 41 assisted tackles. Eight of his tackles were for negative yardage, including a pair of quarterback sacks. Taylor had one interception, which he returned seven yards, four pass breakups, two QB harassments, one fumble recovery and a blocked kick.
Earning All-Conference second team honors were running back
Mike Vann, offensive lineman
Nic King, linebacker
Maureik Goode and return specialist Le'Bryan Patterson. Goode was also Ferrum's representative on the 2008 All-Sportsmanship Team.
Offensive lineman
Adrian Baker, defensive lineman
Devin Genchi, linebacker
Jamar Moseley and defensive back
William Kenney were honorable mentions.
Ferrum finished the year with a 7-3 overall record, which included a seven-game win streak. The Panthers are led by 15th-year Head Coach
Dave Davis, whose team finished second in the USA South with a 5-2 league mark. Ten players will be lost to graduation.