Dolan Named Southland Football Student-Athlete of the Year

1/11/2011 9:25:00 PM

FRISCO, Texas - Nicholls State senior punter Patrick Dolan was named the Southland Conference Football Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday in conjunction with the release of the all-academic football Team.

Dolan, a three-time all-academic selection, is the first Nicholls player to be named the Southland football student-athlete of the year. A marketing major with a 3.77 grade-point average, Dolan received dual honors as a member of the 2010 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI team and most recently was named to the Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Director's Association Academic All-Star Team.

A native of Mobile, Ala., Dolan received his third consecutive first-team all-conference honor after playing in all 11 games for the Colonels in 2010. He totaled 2,721 yards on 63 punts for a 43.2 average, which ranked sixth in the FCS. Dolan had 17 punts of 50 yards or more, two punts of 60-plus yards and had a career best 74-yarder against conference rival Southeastern Louisiana. Dolan leaves Nicholls as the career record holder with a 43.1 yard average and was just two-tenths of a yard shy of the Southland career record.

Central Arkansas recorded its most all-academic selections with a league-best seven members including four first-team honorees, while Northwestern State received six all-academic members for the third consecutive season. Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana had three selections each, Nicholls had two and McNeese State, Stephen F. Austin and Texas State had one apiece.

There were 11 automatic selections on the Southland all-academic team. To be an automatic selection, a student-athlete must be a first-team All-Southland Conference selection, a CoSIDA Academic All-District VI selection or named to the FCS ADA Academic All-Star Team.

The Southland had eight CoSIDA selections, led by Central Arkansas with four. Sophomore running back Anthony Blackmon, senior offensive lineman Austin Emerson, junior offensive lineman Brad Jakel and sophomore defensive back Marcus Dumas each received honors. Northwestern State had three CoSIDA members led by junior tight end Justin Aldredge, junior linebacker Yaser Elqutub and senior defensive back Xavier Lee. McNeese State junior punter Ben Bourgeois was the only 4.00 GPA among all CoSIDA selections.

Northwestern State was one of the 11 FCS universities with the maximum allowable two honorees who made the FCS ADA Academic All-Star Team. Demons Aldredge and Elqutub were joined on the team by Bourgeois and Stephen F. Austin junior punter Drew Nelson.

Southeastern Louisiana senior defensive back Tommy Connors joined Dolan and Emerson as the only first-team all-conference selections to receive additional honors as all-academic members. Dolan and Connors made the all-academic team for a third time, while Emerson and Aldredge made their second all-academic appearance.

The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 12 member universities, 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.

The All-Academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic advisors 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.

2010 Southland Conference Football All-Academic Teams

Offense
Pos.	Name	University	Class	Hometown	GPA	Major
WR	Dominique Croom	Central Arkansas	So.	Cherokee, Ala.	3.57	Undergraduate Studies
WR	Brandon Closner	Sam Houston St.	Jr.	Arlington, Texas	3.38	Kinesiology
RB	Anthony Blackmon^%,¹	Central Arkansas	So.	Bentonville, Ark.	3.52	Health Education
RB	Sam Fairley	Southeastern La.	So.	Moss Point, Miss.	3.13	General Studies
TE	Justin Aldredge^%^,1,2,4	Northwestern St.	Jr.	Ruston, La.	3.86	Accounting
OL	Austin Emerson^%^,1,2	Central Arkansas	Sr.	Sperry, Okla.	3.73	History
OL	Brad Jakel^%^,1	Central Arkansas	Jr.	Weston, Wis.	3.91	Family and Consumer Sciences
OL	Travis Watson	Sam Houston St.	So.	Norman, Okla.	3.30	Political Science
OL	Bart Roussel	Nicholls	Jr.	Gramercy, La.	3.36	Allied Health & Science
OL	Zach Case	Northwestern St.	Jr.	Morgan City, La.	3.33	Health & Exercise Education
K	John Shaughnessy	Northwestern St.	So.	Shreveport, La.	3.60	Biology

Defense
Pos.	Name	University	Class	Hometown	GPA	Major
DL	Nathan Clophus	Southeastern La.	Sr.	Sulphur, La.	3.07	General Studies
DL	Jonathan Ward	Texas State	So.	Lumberton, Texas	3.13	Mass Communication
DL	Wade Williams	Northwestern St.	So.	Groveton, Texas	3.03	Psychology
LB	Yaser Elqutub^%^,1,4	Northwestern St.	Jr.	Houston, Texas	3.81	Liberal Arts and Science
LB	Justin Heard	Central Arkansas	So.	Woodland, Ala.	3.10	Undergraduate Studies
DB	Marcus Dumas^%^,1	Central Arkansas	So.	St. James, La.	3.61	Undergraduate Studies
DB	Xavier Lee^%^,1	Northwestern St.	Sr.	Monroe, La.	3.50	Electronics Engineering Technology
DB	Tommy Connors^1,3	Southeastern La.	Sr.	Marrero, La.	3.08	Marketing
DB	Seth Allison	Central Arkansas	So.	Stuttgart, Ark.	3.38	Finance
DB	Randy Stewart	Sam Houston St.	Jr.	Magnolia, Texas	3.29	Accounting
P	Ben Bourgeois^%^,1,4	McNeese State	Jr.	Sulphur, La.	4.00	Mechanical Engineering
P	Patrick Dolan^{^, 1,3,4}	Nicholls	Sr.	Mobile, Ala.	3.73	Marketing
P	Drew Nelson^1,4	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	Livingston, Texas	3.43	Criminal Justice/Accounting

^{^}2010 Southland Football Student-Athlete of the Year
^%CoSIDA Academic All-District VI
¹Automatic all-academic selection
²Two-time all-academic selection
³Three-time all-academic selection
⁴FCS Academic All-American