Football Championship Subdivision’s (FCS) leading rusher and the nation’s leading sack artist headline the American Football Coaches Association 2008 Football Championship Subdivision Coaches’ All-America Team announced today.

THE OFFENSE
The runningbacks on the 2008 FCS Coaches’ All-America Team are Herb Donaldson of Western Illinois and Javarris Williams of Tennessee State. Donaldson, the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) Offensive Player of the Year, ranks first nationally in rushing (162.18 ypg) and scoring (12 ppg). He is the all-time leading rusher in both Western Illinois and MVFC history. Williams was named the Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year after he led the league in rushing (103.7 ypg, 1,037 total yards) and touchdowns (15).

 

The signal caller on this year’s squad is Armanti Edwards of Appalachian State. Edwards, a Walter Payton Award finalist, is second nationally in passing efficiency (170.2) and ranks seventh in total offense (295.6 ypg) this season. He scored 11 rushing touchdowns and passed for 30 more.

 

Colgate’s Nick Hennessey, Albany’s Raphael Nguti, Southern Illinois’ Aaron Lockwood, Gardner-Webb’s Demario Deese and Youngstown State’s Brad Samsa make up the offensive line for 2008. Hennessey was an anchor on an offensive unit that finished fifth nationally in rushing offense with 267.67 yards per game, and 12th in total offense with 416.5 yards per game. Nguti led the way for an Albany offense ranked 16th nationally in rushing (200.58 ypg) and first in the NEC in total offense (363.17 ypg).

 

Lockwood was a fixture of SIU’s offense which ranks among the top-five in the league in both passing (2nd, 186.8 ypg) and scoring (4th, 29.6 ppg). Deese is the first person in Big South Conference history to earn first-team All-Big South Conference honors all four seasons he played. He helped the Bulldogs rank 16th nationally in passing yards at 258 yards per game. Samsa graded at 83 percent or better in four of the final five games this season, and started at center, guard and tackle during his career.

 

The wide receivers on this year’s team are Andre Roberts of The Citadel and Ramses Barden of Cal Poly. Roberts ended the 2008 campaign with 95 catches for 1,334 yards, both single-season school records and good enough for No. 1 in the conference and No. 2 in the nation. One of two returning AFCA All-Americans on this year’s team, Barden caught 67 passes for 1,257 yards and 18 touchdowns, which tied his own school record. The tight end is John Nalbone of Monmouth (N.J.). Nalbone paced the Hawks in receptions (42), receiving yardage (491) and touchdowns caught (five) in 2008.

THE DEFENSE
The defensive line is headlined by Eastern Washington’s Greg Peach. Peach, a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, was the FCS leader in quarterback sacks (1.64 per game) and tackles for loss (2.00). He recorded 72 tackles, including 18 sacks and 23.5 total tackles for loss. Northern Iowa’s James Ruffin, the MVFC Defensive Player of the Year, racked up a team-high 15 tackles for loss and eight quarterback sacks to go along with his 57 total tackles. Villanova’s Greg Miller had 41 total tackles (30 solo), 13 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. Jovan Belcher of Maine was named Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in tackles for loss (17.5). He also added 7.5 sacks.

Western Illinois’ Jason Williams, Jackson State’s Marcellus Speaks and Yale’s Bobby Abare make up the linebackers on the Coaches’ All-America Team. Williams recorded 67 total tackles, 17 tackles for a loss and six forced fumbles in 2008. He set the all-time FCS record of 14 career forced fumbles. Speaks, the SWAC Defensive Player of the Year, led the league with 122 tackles, while also recording five sacks, one interception and three forced fumbles. Abare was the Ivy leader with 55 solo tackles. He also had a team-high 86 total tackles with four interceptions and four sacks.

 

Lardarius Webb of Nicholls State leads a group of four talented defensive backs on the All-America team. He was second on his team this season with 55 tackles, while ranking first in interceptions with two. William Middleton of Furman racked up 95 tackles and a team leading four interceptions and nine pass deflections. Tennessee-Martin’s Dontrell Miller had 78 total tackles, four interceptions, four fumble recoveries and five defensive touchdowns. Colt Anderson of Montana was a unanimous All-Big Sky pick for the third straight season. The Buchanan Award candidate is the team leader with 121 total tackles, while also recording 5.5 tackles for loss and three interceptions.

THE SPECIALISTS
James Madison’s Scotty McGee is this year’s all-purpose player. McGee ranked third nationally in kickoff return average at 30.05 yards per return. He scored four touchdowns on returns and had 15 passes defended as a defensive back. In 2008, punter Doug Spada of Southeast Missouri State ranked third nationally in punting, averaging 44.74 yards per punt. He had a long of 65 yards and downed 12 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Placekicker Robbie Dehaze of Northern Arizona ranked fourth nationally in field goals per game with 1.45 per game. He was 16 of 20 on field goal attempts and 34 of 36 on PATs this season.

 

 

2008 AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team

 

Offense

Pos.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Cl.	School	Coach	Hometown (High School)
WR	Andre Roberts	5-11	175	Jr.	The Citadel	Kevin Higgins	Columbia, S.C. (Spring Valley)
WR	Ramses Barden*	6-6	227	Sr.	Cal Poly	Rich Ellerson	Altadena, Calif. (Flintridge Prep)
TE	John Nalbone	6-4	255	Sr.	Monmouth (N.J.)	Kevin Callahan	Lawrenceville, N.J. (Lawrence)
OL	Nick Hennessey	6-6	300	Sr.	Colgate	Dick Biddle	Danvers, Mass. (Phillips Andover)
OL	Raphael Nguti	6-7	330	Sr.	Albany	Bob Ford	Rochester, N.Y. (Brighton)
OL	Aaron Lockwood	6-2	303	Sr.	Southern Illinois	Dale Lennon	Topeka, Kan. (Seaman)
OL	Demario Deese	6-4	305	Sr.	Gardner-Webb	Steve Patton	Charlotte, N.C. (Independence)
OL	Brad Samsa	6-3	290	Sr.	Youngstown St.	Jon Heacock	Warren, Ohio (Howland)
QB	Armanti Edwards	6-0	184	Jr.	Appalachian St.	Jerry Moore	Greenwood, S.C. (Greenwood)
RB	Javarris Williams	5-11	215	Sr.	Tennessee St.	James Webster	Richmond, Texas (Foster)
RB	Herb Donaldson	5-11	225	Sr.	Western Illinois	Don Patterson	St. Louis, Mo. (CBC)

 

Defense

Pos.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Cl.	School	Coach	Hometown (High School)
DL	James Ruffin	6-4	265	Jr.	Northern Iowa	Mark Farley	Burnsville, Minn. (Burnsville)
DL	Jovan Belcher	6-2	228	Sr.	Maine	Jack Cosgrove	West Babylon, N.Y. (West Babylon)
DL	Greg Miller	6-3	250	Sr.	Villanova	Andy Talley	Willow Grove, Pa. (Abington)
DL	Greg Peach	6-3	255	Sr.	Eastern Washington	Beau Baldwin	Vancouver, Wash. (Evergreen)
LB	Jason Williams*	6-3	235	Sr.	Western Illinois	Don Patterson	Chicago, Ill. (DuSable)
LB	Marcellus Speaks	6-2	230	Sr.	Jackson St.	Rick Comegy	Jackson, Miss. (Provine)
LB	Bobby Abare	6-2	220	Sr.	Yale	Jack Siedlecki	Acton, Mass. (Acton-Boxboro)
DB	Lardarius Webb	5-10	205	Sr.	Nicholls St.	Jay Thomas	Opelika, Ala. (Beauregard)
DB	William Middleton	5-11	186	Sr.	Furman	Bobby Lamb	Atlanta, Ga. (Marist)
DB	Dontrell Miller	5-8	175	Jr.	Tennessee-Martin	Jason Simpson	Demopolis, Ala. (Demopolis)
DB	Colt Anderson	5-11	195	Sr.	Montana	Bobby Hauck	Butte, Mont. (Butte)

 

Specialists

Pos.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Cl.	School	Coach	Hometown (High School)
P	Doug Spada	6-1	190	Jr.	Southeast Missouri St.	Tony Samuel	Shelby, N.C. (Fork Union Military Academy)
PK	Robbie Dehaze	6-3	193	Sr.	Northern Arizona	Jerome Souers	Sherwood, Ore. (Sherwood)
AP	Scotty McGee	5-9	180	Jr.	James Madison	Mickey Matthews	Virginia Beach, Va. (Ocean Lakes)

*-2007 AFCA All-American

Top Teams: Eastern Kentucky has been represented a total of 23 times by 21 players on the AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team since 1979. The Colonels are followed by Appalachian State (18/14), Montana (17/17), Delaware (17/14), Furman (16/15), Western Illinois (16/15), Georgia Southern (16/12), Youngstown State (15/14), Northern Iowa (15/12), Grambling State (13/12), Jackson State (13/12), Cal Poly (13/11), Stephen F. Austin (12/11), Tennessee State (12/11), Northwestern State (12/10), Eastern Illinois (11/10), Weber State (11/10), Western Kentucky (11/10) and Villanova (11/8) among current FCS schools.

Top Conference: The Colonial Athletic Association (formerly Atlantic 10) (101 appearances/92 players) is tops among all FCS conferences on the AFCA FCS Coaches All-America Team since 1979. Following the CAA is the Southern (95 appearances/83 players), Missouri Valley Football (formerly Gateway) (71/65), Ohio Valley (60/56), Big Sky (59/59), Southland (56/52), Southwestern Athletic (46/44), Patriot (43/42), Mid-Eastern Athletic (28/26), Ivy League (27/27), Northeast (13/11), Pioneer (11/11), Great West (8/7), Big South (6/6) and Metro Atlantic Athletic (5/4). These totals reflect FCS selections only from current conference members. Several schools had additional players chosen when they played in divisions other than FCS.

2008 Conference-by-Conference Breakdown: Missouri Valley Football ? 5; Big Sky ? 3; Colonial Athletic ? 3; Ohio Valley ? 3; Southern ? 3; Northeast ? 2; Big South ? 1; Great West ? 1; Ivy ? 1; Patriot ? 1; Southland ? 1; SWAC ? 1.

Consecutive Years: Eastern Kentucky leads all schools, having had at least one player named to the AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team in each of the first 15 years a FCS team was chosen (1979-93).

Repeat After Me: Wide receiver Ramses Barden of Cal Poly and linebacker Jason Williams of Western Illinois are the only repeat selections from last year’s FCS Coaches’ All-America team. Linebackers Gary Reasons of Northwestern State (La.) (1981-83) and Dexter Coakley of Appalachian State (1994-96) are the only three-time AFCA All-Americans in the FCS.

Yearly Leaders: Grambling (1979-DL Joe Gordon, LB Aldrich Allen and DB Robert Salters) and Jackson State (1996-QB Grailyn Pratt, LB Otha Evans and DB Sean Woodson) are the only schools to have more than two players named to the AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team in one year.

One Player, Two Schools: Punter Mark Bounds is the only player to earn Coaches’ All-America honors at two different schools. He was named to the AFCA College Division I team in 1990 while playing for West Texas A&M. He transferred to Texas Tech after West Texas dropped football and earned FBS All-America honors as a Red Raider in 1991.

Class Distinction: This year’s AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Team is made up of 19 seniors and six juniors.

Team Background
The AFCA has selected an All-America team every year since 1945. What makes these teams so special is that they are the only ones chosen exclusively by the men who know the players the best ? the coaches themselves.

 

The five teams now chosen for each AFCA division evolved from a single 11-player squad in 1945. From 1945 until 1967, only one team was chosen. From 1967 through 1971, two teams, University Division and College Division, were selected. In 1972, the College Division was split into College I and College II. In 1979, the University Division was split into two teams ? Division I-A and Division I-AA. In 1996, the College I and College II teams were renamed Division II and Division III respectively. The AFCA started selecting an NAIA-only team in 2006.

 

From 1965-81, a 22-player (11 offensive, 11 defensive) team was chosen. In 1982, a punter and placekicker were added to the team. In 1997, a return specialist was added, giving us the current 25-player team. The return specialist position was replaced by an all-purpose player in 2006.

Selection Process
The AFCA’s Football Champion-ship Subdivision All-America Selection Committee is made up of three head coaches from each of the AFCA’s nine districts, one of whom serves as a district chairman, along with another head coach who serves as the chairman of the selection committee. The coaches in each district are responsible for ranking the top players in their respective districts prior to a conference call between the district chairmen and the committee chairman on which the team is chosen.