(Portions of this story courtesy of Trinity University)
(Graphic courtesy of Joshua Moczygemba)
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference had nine student-athletes selected to the 25th Annual USA College Football Division III Pre-Season All-American Team.
Trinity University junior Conner Cox, a 6-2, 309-pound offensive lineman, was selected for First Team Offense - just one of two SCAC student-athlete earning First Team honors. Cox earned All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference honors last season. He is a returning starter for Trinity's O-line which chalked up 4,305 yards of total offense.
Austin College senior Nathan Packard, a 6-0, 210-pound linebacker from Dallas, was the league's other First Team selection, and the SCAC's only First Team Defense honoree. Packard had a team-high 66 tackles, including 42 solo stops last year, and was named First Team All-SCAC. He had 5.0 tackles for loss including 1.0 sack, recovered a fumble, and returned an interception 68 yards for a touchdown last season.
Trinity's Cox was joined on the squad by four teammates, including junior Matthew Kennemer, a 6-0, 187-pound wide receiver, who was selected to the Second Team Offense. Kennemer was an All-SCAC Offense and Special Teams honoree, as he also played as a punter and returner. He led the Tigers in number of receptions (36), for 575 yards and five touchdowns. Kennemer, who racked up 1,295 all-purpose yards, was also named SCAC Special Teams Player of the Year.
Trinity senior Chris Hobbs, a 5-7, 150-pound defensive back, earned Second Team Defense honors. Hobbs, a 2012 All-SCAC selection, registered 36 tackles (27 solo), two fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups, and one interception.
Two Trinity players made the Third Team Defense Pre-Season All-American Team.
Junior Tomy Boboy, a 6-1, 203-pound defensive lineman, was selected for last season's D3Football.Com All-South Region Team, and the All-SCAC Team. Boboy was a three-time All-SCAC Defensive Player of the Week, and was part of the Beyond Sports Network National Team of the Week. He led the Tigers and the conference with 10 sacks, and also had 16.5 tackles for a loss (79 yards), 10 QB hurries, and one interception. Boboy recorded 45 total tackles, with 29 solo.
Senior Von'Darrick Jones, a 5-11, 170-pound defensive back, earned Beyond Sports Network Pre-Season All-American honors for the second straight year, as well as a slot on the All-SCAC Team. Jones amassed 45 tackles, with 27 solo, and broke up seven passes.
Austin College was also represented on the USA College Football Division III Pre-Season All-America team by Logan Estes, a 5-10, 165-pound senior defensive back from Watauga, Texas, who earned Fourth Team Defense honors. Estes made 36 tackles last season for the 'Roos in earning First Team All-SCAC honors, including 20 solo stops and had 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.0 sack. He also had an interception which he returned 11 yards.
Preparing for its inaugural season in the SCAC, Texas Lutheran University was represented on the squad by two players: senior linebacker Bradley Snowden and senior quarterback Brent Peavy.
Snowden, a 5-11, 205-pound linebacker, is a captain and three-year letterman, a two-year starter, and has accumulated 175 total tackles in three seasons for the Bulldogs. Selected as Second Team Pre-Season All-American by USA College Football, Snowden was named to the 2012 ASC All-Conference First Team Defense last season after leading TLU in tackles for a second straight year. In 2012, Snowden had 74 tackles, nine tackles for loss (27 yards in losses), three fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. He is a two-time Academic All-Conference selection. Just last week, Snowden was nominated for the Allstate Good Works Team for his charitable work off the field.
In his first year as the starting quarterback in Seguin, Peavy, a 5-10, 196-pound senior, threw for 2,569 yards, 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He completed a TLU DIII-era record 61.44 percent (196-319) of his passes. Peavy just missed overall school single-season records for total offense (2,823 for Peavy; 2,832 for Sean Salinas in 2004), passing yards (2,569 for Peavy; 2,800 for Salinas in 2004) and completions (196 for Peavy; 201 for Robbie Bozeman in 1999) as was selected Honorable Mention All-ASC. He is a Honorable Mention USA College Football Pre-Season All-American selection.
To view the complete 25th Annual USA College Football Division III Pre-Season All-American, click here.
