SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Six Southern Conference football players earned All-America honors from the Sports Network, it was announced Tuesday (Dec. 23). Samford defensive back Jaquiski Tartt and UTC’s Davis Tull were named to the first team, while UTC’s Corey Levin (offensive line) and Mercer’s Chandler Curtis (return specialist) garnered second-team honors. Furman defensive lineman Gary Wilkins and Western Carolina linebacker Christon Gill were tabbed third team All-Americans.
Tartt was named to the All-SoCon team for the third year in a row.
During the 2014 season, Tartt was second on the team with 62 tackles, including 53 solo stops. He also had one interception during the season.
For his career, Tartt tallied 277 total tackles, including 199 solo tackles. He also had six interceptions, 20 pass break-ups and 6.5 tackles for loss.
Tull is a consensus All-American, but this is the first time Levin sees his name in the national listings. Levin gives the Mocs a school-record five All-Americans in 2014, topping the previous record of four in 1945 and 2000.
Tull, a three-time Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year, is on everyone’s All-American list.
Levin won the SoCon’s Jacobs Blocking Award, given by the league’s coaches to the top offensive lineman in the conference. He is the first offensive lineman at UTC named All-American since Steve Cutchen was an honorable mention pick in 1971.
Curtis’ latest honor comes just a day after he was named the FCS Return Specialist of the Year by the College Football Performance Awards and gives him three total All-American nods this season. He joins five other student-athletes from the Southern Conference on The Sports Networks’ All-America teams.
The Calhoun, Ga. native racked up 1,430 all-purpose yards and 10 total touchdowns during his freshman season, leading the SoCon with 119.2 all-purpose yards per game. He finished the year as the Bears’ leading receiver, hauling in 28 receptions for 564 yards and five touchdowns with an average of 20.1 yards per catch.
Despite his success as a receiver, Curtis made his biggest splash as a return man. The 5-foot-10 freshman ranked among the nation’s leaders in kick return average (29.6) and punt return average (24.6) while topping the FCS with four total return touchdowns.
Wilkins, a 6-foot-2, 243-pound senior, was selected to the Sports Network’s third team All-America defensive unit.
A team co-captain in 2014, he tallied 77 tackles in 2014, including eight sacks and 17.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage — both team highs that also rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in Furman history. In addition, he returned an interception 19 yards for a touchdown in a 25-20 win over Mercer, earned a pair of Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week scrolls, and was named the league’s defensive player of the month for September.
In a 48-game career that featured 41 starts and netted two consensus first team All-SoCon tabs, the Covington, Ga., native compiled 294 tackles, 37.5 tackles for-loss, including 15.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries, two interceptions, and scored three touchdowns. He completed his Paladin tenure ranked fifth on Furman’s career sacks ledger and sixth in tackles for-loss.
Gill is the eighth different WCU player all-time to be recognized by The Sports Network on its All-America selection - and the first since Adrian McLeod (2nd team) in 2009. He joins McLeod, Eddie Cohen (2nd team, 2008), Geno Segers (1st team, 1988); Todd Harkins (2nd, 1992); Kerry Hayes (1st, 1993); Ken Hinsley (3rd, 1998) and Eric Johnson (3rd, 1997; 1st, 1998).
Gill is the 28th Catamount football player to earn post-season All-America honors all-time.
A unanimous All-Southern Conference selection, Gill led Western Carolina - and ranked second in the SoCon - in tackles per game in 2014, finishing with a career-best 111 total tackles including 51 solo stops, averaging 9.2 tackles per game. He additionally finished fifth in the SoCon in tackles for loss, averaging one per game with a team-leading 12.0 on the season with three sacks.
He recorded double-digit tackles five times on the season including a career-best 14 stops against league regular season champion, Chattanooga. Gill tallied an interception - the second of his career - in the home win over VMI, thwarting a late-game, would-be scoring drive as he jumped a route over the middle of the field.