Southland Announces 2000s Football All-Decade Team
Southland Conference
2000s All-Decade Team (PDF)
FRISCO, Texas – The Southland Conference, as part of its year-long 50th Anniversary commemoration, has announced its All-Decade Football Team from the 2000s. The team includes outstanding student-athletes from its member institutions from the 2000 season through 2009.
A total of 106 former student-athletes make up the 2000s All-Decade Team, including honorees from each of the 10 institutions that were football members at during the period. The Southland membership changed slightly during the decade, but the 2000s proved to be a relatively stable with the additions of new member Central Arkansas and a returning football program at Southeastern Louisiana.
“As the century turned and Y2K passed, the strength of Southland football remained constant, as the league remained competitively successful with outstanding individuals and teams,” league commissioner Tom Burnett said. “As it always has, the league continued to compete at the highest level.”
The 2000s team includes 25 former student-athletes from McNeese State, which played for the 2002 Division I-AA national championship, 16 from Northwestern State, and 15 from Sam Houston State, which advanced to the 2004 NCAA semifinals. Texas State, a 2005 NCAA semifinalist, placed 13 players on the all-decade team, followed by Nicholls State with 12, Stephen F. Austin with 11, Central Arkansas with seven, Jacksonville State and Southeastern Louisiana with three each, and Troy State with one.
Stephen F. Austin quarterback Jeremy Moses was selected as the 2000s player of the decade after becoming the first-ever Southland player to win the Walter Payton Award, signifying the nation’s top FCS player, in 2010. During his 2007-10 career, Moses rewrote the Southland passing record book, establishing nine passing and three total offense records. The 2009 and 2010 Player of the Year, and 2010 Offensive Player of the Year, Moses is the Southland’s career passing leader with 13,401 yards and also threw for a Southland record 121 touchdowns. He led the league in passing during the 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons, becoming only the second league quarterback to do so in three seasons.
Tommy Tate and Matt Viator, who both led McNeese State during the decade, were selected as the 2000s Southland co-coaches of the decade. Tate led the McNeese program from 2000-06, accumulating a 49-26 overall record and a 25-10 league mark, while leading the team to playoff appearances in each of his first four seasons. His 2002 team was 13-2 overall and 6-0 in Southland play on the way to the 2002 NCAA Division I-AA championship game, a 34-14 loss to Western Kentucky. He earned the 2002 Eddie Robinson Award, signifying him as the national coach of the year in Division I-AA.
Viator picked up the leadership of the program after four games in 2006, and continued the high level of success at McNeese, compiling 33-10 overall and 22-5 league records through the 2009 season. His teams won three Southland championships in his four years during the decade (2006, 2008 and 2009). He coached 26 first-team All-Southland selections to close out the decade, and earned 2006 and 2007 Coach of the Year honors.
More than two dozen McNeese State players earned a spot on the on the All-Decade team including running back and six-year NFL veteran Luke Lawton, who played in Super Bowl XXXXI with Indianapolis. Another six-year NFL veteran named to the All-Decade team is former McNeese defensive back Keith Smith.
Other McNeese players on the squad include kickers Blake Bercegeay and John Marino, quarterback Derrick Fourroux, wide receivers Carlese Franklin, B.J. Sams, and Steven Whitehead, running backs Vick King and Toddrick Pendland, and offensive linemen Jason Davis, Wes Hines, Dwight Hudler, Cody LeBlanc, and Eman Naghavi. McNeese defensive backs Joe Judge, Quentin Lawrence and Hadley Prince, earned spots on the All-Decade team, as did linebackers Allen Nelson and Roderick Royal, and defensive linemen Vaalyn Jackson, John Paul Jones, B.J. McNutt, Jake Morrison, and Bryan Smith.
Northwestern State’s contingent on the all-decade team includes defensive back and return specialist Terrence McGee, who after earning all-league and All-America honors, went on to a 10-year NFL career (and a 2004 Pro Bowl season) with the Buffalo Bills. Quarterback Craig Nall was the Southland’s 2001 Newcomer of the Year and played seven years in the NFL with the Packers, Bills and Texans.
Other Northwestern State players include offensive linemen Demetress Bell and Greg Buckley, return specialist Toby Zeigler, running backs Derrick Johnese and Byron Lawrence, linebackers Jamall Johnson and Kurt Rodriguez, defensive backs David Pittman, a 2006, third-round draft choice of Baltimore, and Russ Washington, and defensive linemen Tory Collins, Roy Locks, Quintene Newhouse, Ed Queen and Ahmad Willis.
Sam Houston State placed quarterback Josh McCown on the all-decade team, as the 2002 third-round draft choice continues his NFL career, now with the Chicago Bears after previous stops at Arizona, Detroit, Oakland and Carolina. One of McCown’s favorite targets, tight end Keith Heinrich, a two-time all-Southland standout, went on to a seven-year NFL career with three teams. Former Sam Houston defensive back Keith Davis, a 2001 All-America selection, played six years with the Dallas Cowboys.
Other Sam Houston players on the all-decade squad include quarterbacks Rhett Bomar and Dustin Long, defensive lineman Chris Brown, and wide receiver Jonathan Cooper, who still holds the single-season receiving yardage mark of 1,477 set in 2001. Receivers Jarrod Fuller and Jason Mathenia are also included on the squad, as is kicker Lance Garner, tight ends Blake Martin and Corey Roberts, running back D.D. Terry, and offensive linemen Brandon Hale and Steve Izevbizua.
Texas State’s contingent includes defensive lineman Fred Evans, a two-time all-Southland first-teamer currently in his eighth season with the Minnesota Vikings. Other Texas State all-decade members are defensive lineman Clenton Ballard, running backs Blake Burton and Karrington Bush, linebackers C.J. Carroll and David Simmons, punters Cory Elolf and Chris MacDonald, quarterbacks Bradley George and Barrick Nealy, receivers Cameron Luke and Markee White, and defensive back Walter Musgrove.
Nicholls placed defensive back and return specialist Lardarius Webb on the all-decade team, as the former two-time all-Southland first-team choice is now in his fifth season with the defending Super Bowl XLVII champion Baltimore Ravens. Other Nicholls’ players include offensive lineman Jacob Bender, running backs Broderick Cole, Colt Colletti and Joseph Tobias, punter Patrick Dolan, defensive back Kareem Moore, who played three seasons with the Washington Redskins, quarterbacks Josh Son and Yale Vannoy, return specialist LeJuan Walker, linebacker Cory Vavala, and defensive back Chris Thompson, a three-year all-conference first-teamer that played two seasons in the NFL.
In addition to Moses, Stephen F. Austin’s players on the all-decade team include running back Derrick Blaylock, who went on to a six-year NFL career with the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets. Other SFA players include receivers Duane Brooks, Anthony Dingle and Dominique Edison, defensive backs David Crocker, Brent Hafford, Keldrick Holman, defensive lineman Tim Knicky, quarterback Wes Pate, and linebacker Jabara Williams.
Central Arkansas began Southland play in 2007, and added a number of players to the all-decade team, including two-time all-conference first-team quarterback Nathan Brown, a 2008 All-American. Others selected were tight end Marquez Branson, defensive back Pieri Feazell, offensive linemen Lane Friewald and Jeremy Ford, running back Brent Grimes, and defensive lineman Larry Hart.
Southeastern Louisiana revived its football program in 2003 and began Southland play in 2005, placing three players on the all-decade team, including quarterback Brian Babin, defensive back Tommy Connors and running back Jay Lucas. Jacksonville State, which played in the conference through the 2002 season, also placed three players on the squad, including punter Richie Rhodes, and offensive linemen Jeremy Sullivan and Deon White. Troy State played its final Southland season in 2000, when current NFL kicker and two-time Super Bowl participant Lawrence Tynes earned all-conference and All-America honors.
To best assess the candidate pool for the all-decade team, the Southland Conference developed a metric that analyzed numerous elements of a student-athlete’s performance and value within the league at the time. Most notably, the conference honored “real-time” factors such as all-conference selection by coaches and a player’s statistical performance among his peers at the time. Further, other components of selection including a player’s effort toward helping his team win a championship or finish near the top of the conference, whether he earned individual honors from the league, if he participated in postseason bowls, and if he was drafted by or participated in the NFL.
The Southland Conference has recognized five all-decade teams throughout the 2013 season. The Conference will also name an all-time football team later this month.
For a complete list of the 2000s All-Decade Team, please click link.