Dudley Guice Named Capital One/Southland Conference Football Student-Athlete of the Year
FRISCO, Texas ? Northwestern State graduate Dudley Guice, a wide receiver on the Demons’ football team, was named the Capital One/Southland Conference Football Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Monday in conjunction with the release of the All-Academic Football Team.
Guice was a cum laude graduate from Northwestern State last May and managed a 3.60 grade-point average as a criminal justice major. He started all 12 games for the Demons this past fall while pursuing additional hours in addiction studies. The Fayette, Miss., native, led Northwestern’s run-oriented offense in receiving his final two seasons. As a senior, Guice ranked among conference leaders with team-high total of 35 catches for 606 yards despite missing three games and most of a fourth with an early season ankle injury.
Guice made 11 grabs for 190 yards and a touchdown in the final game of his career at Stephen F. Austin to earn conference player of the week honors. His 11 catches were the third most in a game in school history and his yardage ranked sixth. He finished his career with 12 touchdowns, including five his senior season.
Off the field, Guice is highly accomplished as well. He is a three-time selection to the Southland All-Academic Football Team with his selection this season. He was one of 44 semifinalists for the 2008 Draddy Trophy, the top individual academic honor. Guice is a five-time member of the dean’s list, has twice been on the honor roll and has appeared on the president’s list once, as well. A member of the student-athlete advisory committee, Guice has also been active in community outreach programs, including the 2005 hurricane relief efforts following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 12 member schools, voted for the student-athlete of the year. The Southland student-athlete of the year award is presented to the one student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
Six of Guice’s teammates join him on the Capital One/Southland Conference All-Academic Football Team, including linebacker Blake Delcambre, running back Quinten Goodie, defensive back Lance Lacoste, defensive lineman Kendall Rodrigue and wide receiver Adam Varnado.
Texas State, which won its first outright conference championship since 1983, had four players make the all-academic team, including running back Blake Burton, quarterback Bradley George, defensive lineman Travis Houston and defensive back Will Thompson.
McNeese State, Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana each placed three student-athletes on the team, while two from each Central Arkansas and Stephen F. Austin made the squad. Nicholls State had one honoree.
There were 10 automatic selections to the All-Academic team. To be an automatic selection, a student-athlete must make at least one of the following teams: first-team All-Southland Conference, College Sports Information Directors of America/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI team or FCS Athletic Directors Association Academic All-Star Team.
Four players, including Rodrigue, David Ballard and Brant Linde, both of McNeese State, and Cory Long of Stephen F. Austin each earned CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI recognition, while five players were named FCS ADA Academic All-Stars, including Ballard, Guice, Linde, Long and Houston.
Four others ? Eman Naghavi of McNeese State, Tim Knicky of Stephen F. Austin, Tommy Connors of Southeastern Louisiana and Patrick Dolan of Nicholls State ? were automatic selections by virtue of being named first-team All-Southland Conference.
Ballard, Long and Linde made the All-Academic team for the third time, while two-time honorees include Burton, Connors, George, Guice, Knicky, Naghavi, Varnado, and Nolen Bucek and Jeff Sparks, both of Sam Houston State.
The All-Academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators from each Southland Conference university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.
Included in Capital One’s support of the Southland Conference’s Academic Awards Program is the F.L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarship, the All-Academic Teams, the Student-Athlete of the Year, the Scholar-Athlete Award and the Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
2008 Southland Conference Football All-Academic Teams
|
OFFENSE |
|
Pos. |
Name |
University |
Class |
Hometown |
GPA |
Major |
|
QB |
Bradley George+ |
Texas State |
Jr. |
New Braunfels, Texas |
3.16 |
Industrial Technology |
|
WR |
Dudley Guice^*+ |
Northwestern State |
Gr. |
Fayette, Miss. |
3.60 |
Criminal Justice |
|
WR |
Adam Varnado+ |
Northwestern State |
Sr. |
Big Sandy, Texas |
3.33 |
Social Studies Education |
|
RB |
Blake Burton+ |
Texas State |
Sr. |
Hungerford, Texas |
3.43 |
Exercise and Sports Science |
|
RB |
Quinten Goodie |
Northwestern State |
Sr. |
Lafayette, La. |
3.47 |
Computer Information Systems |
|
TE |
Cole Wardell |
Southeastern La. |
So. |
Rockwall, Texas |
3.73 |
General Business |
|
OL |
Eman Naghavi*+ |
McNeese State |
Sr. |
Katy, Texas |
3.23 |
Management |
|
OL |
David Ballard*# |
McNeese State |
Gr. |
Lake Charles, La. |
3.71 |
Exercise Science |
|
OL |
Jordan Bowersox |
Sam Houston State |
Jr. |
Wichita, Kan. |
3.77 |
Finance |
|
OL |
Brad Bardy |
Southeastern La. |
Sr. |
Covington, La. |
3.44 |
Kinesiology |
|
OL |
Casey Thurber |
Central Arkansas |
Jr. |
Tulsa, Okla. |
3.53 |
Chemistry |
|
K |
Cory Long*# |
Stephen F. Austin |
Sr. |
Richardson, Texas |
3.91 |
Finance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DEFENSE |
|
Pos. |
Name |
University |
Class |
Hometown |
GPA |
Major |
|
DL |
Tim Knicky*+ |
Stephen F. Austin |
Jr. |
Cedar Park, Texas |
3.36 |
Kinesiology |
|
DL |
Kendall Rodrigue* |
Northwestern State |
Sr. |
Walker, La. |
3.69 |
Accounting |
|
DL |
Travis Houston* |
Texas State |
Jr. |
Converse, Texas |
3.77 |
Computer Information Systems |
|
DL |
Taylor Scott |
Central Arkansas |
Jr. |
Little Rock, Ark. |
3.10 |
Marketing and Management |
|
LB |
Nolen Bucek+ |
Sam Houston State |
Sr. |
Houston, Texas |
3.02 |
Marketing |
|
LB |
Blake Delcambre |
Northwestern State |
Sr. |
New Iberia, La. |
3.03 |
General Studies |
|
DB |
Tommy Connors*+ |
Southeastern La. |
Jr. |
Marrero, La. |
3.08 |
Accounting |
|
DB |
Brant Linde*# |
McNeese State |
Sr. |
Mandeville, La. |
3.62 |
Accounting |
|
DB |
Will Thompson |
Texas State |
Jr. |
Katy, Texas |
3.02 |
Accounting |
|
DB |
Lance Lacoste |
Northwestern State |
Jr. |
New Orleans, La. |
3.15 |
Health and Exercise Science |
|
DB |
Jeff Sparks+ |
Sam Houston State |
Sr. |
Houston, Texas |
3.13 |
Criminal Justice |
|
P |
Patrick Dolan* |
Nicholls State |
So. |
Mobile, Ala. |
3.74 |
Marketing |
^ 2008 Southland Football Student-Athlete of the Year
* Automatic Selection
+ Two-time all-academic selection
# Three-time all-academic selection
? www.Southland.org ?