Southland Announces 1990s Football All-Decade Team
Southland Conference
1990s 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 1990s. The team includes outstanding student-athletes from its member institutions from the 1990 season through 1999.
A total of 89 former student-athletes make up the 1990s All-Decade Team, including honorees from each of the 10 institutions that were football members at during the period. The Southland continued to undergo membership change during the decade, developed the Southland Football League as a result, and maintained its status as a collective power in NCAA Division I-AA.
“The 1990s exhibited a strategic focus for the Conference as it formed the Southland Football League,” league commissioner Tom Burnett said. “The league maintained itself as a national power, and we continued to see outstanding individual and team performances though the decade.”
The Southland Football League was formed July 26, 1995, as a sport-specific consortium of the six Southland Conference football-playing institutions and two Alabama universities, Jacksonville State University and Troy State University. The SFL was immediately recognized as a power conference in Division I-AA, and the organization announced a multi-year television agreement with Prime Sports later that summer. The SFL remained intact through the 2001 season, before the administration of football was brought back under the main Southland Conference entity.
The 1990s All-Decade team includes 23 former student-athletes from McNeese State, which played for the 1997 Division I-AA national championship, and 16 from Northwestern State, which advanced to the 1998 national semifinals. Louisiana-Monroe placed 12 members on the all-decade squad, followed by Stephen F. Austin, Troy and Texas State with eight, Sam Houston State with seven, North Texas with three, and Nicholls State and Jacksonville State, both with two.
Texas State running back Claude Mathis was selected as the 1990s player of the decade. A four-time All-Southland first-team selection (1994-95-96-97), he became the league’s all-time leading rusher with 4,694, a mark that would stand until the 2013 season. He also set Southland career marks for all-purpose yardage (7,264) and rushing attempts (882). He was the 1994 Freshman of the Year, the 1996 and 1997 Player of the Year, and was a consensus All-America choice in 1996 and 1997. His 310-yard rushing performance against Stephen F. Austin in 1997 still stands as the Southland’s single-game record.
Bobby Keasler, who led McNeese State from 1990-98, was named the 1990s Southland coach of the decade, accumulating a 78-34-2 overall record and a 43-13-2 league mark during his tenure. Keasler’s teams won eight NCAA Division I-AA playoff games during the decade, and his 1997 team ran off a 13-2 overall mark and 6-1 league record on the way to the NCAA Division I-AA national championship, a narrow 10-9 loss to Youngstown State. Keasler was named Southland Coach of the Year a record five times (1990, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997), and his teams won the 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997 Southland titles, and he coached 53 first-team All-Southland players and 16 first-team All-Americans.
The nearly two dozen McNeese State players on the all-decade team include two-time All-Southland defensive lineman Kavika Pittman, who went on to a nine-year NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, and played in Super Bowl XXXVIII. His teammate, standout quarterback Kerry Joseph, was also named to the all-decade squad and embarked on a remarkable professional career in the NFL, as a defensive player, then in the CFL, where he continues to play quarterback today. He led the Saskatchewan Roughriders to the 2007 Grey Cup Championship.
Other McNeese players on the team include four-time all-conference defensive back Zack Bronson, linebacker and five-year NFL veteran Terry Irving, kick returner Donnie Ashley, defensive linemen Blair Bradley and Eric Kidd, running backs Henry Fields and Jesse Burton, offensive lineman Ron Cherry, defensive back Tarius Davis, and kickers Shonz LaFrenz, Jose Larios and Eric Roberts. Linebackers Charles Ayro and Vincent Landrum were also named to the team, as was tight end Pat Matthews, offensive linemen Reggie Nelson and Blayne Rush, punter Pat Neck, defensive backs Mike Pierce and Kip Texada, and defensive lineman Dana Scott.
Northwestern State’s contingent on the all-decade team includes offensive lineman Marcus Spears, a three-time All-Southland first-teamer that went on to an 11-year NFL career with Chicago, Kansas City and Houston. Also selected was defensive back Mike Green, a two-time all-Southland pick who went on to a nine-year NFL career after being the final pick in the 2000 NFL Draft, a.k.a. “Mr. Irrelevent.” Another three-time all-league pick on the squad is linebacker Andre Carron, the Southland’s all-time leading tackler (521), and a 1991 consensus All-American.
Other Northwestern State players on the all-decade squad include offensive lineman Will Broussard, defensive lineman Robert Daniel, defensive back Tony Maranto, linebacker Edward Moses, defensive lineman Greg Necaise, receiver Patrick Palmer, and running backs Clarence Matthews, Ronnie Powell, and Tony Taylor. Also selected were numerous defensive backs that had prosperous NFL careers, including Adrian Hardy, Jermaine Jones, Keith Thibodeaux and Kenny Wright.
Louisiana-Monroe’s contingent of all-decade players includes wide receiver Vincent Brisby, a two-time all-conference first teamer that went on to an eight-year NFL career, including a Super Bowl XXXI appearance with New England. Also named to the team is running back Roosevelt Potts, another two-time all-Southland choice who went on to a six-year pro career with the Colts, Dolphins and Ravens. ULM quarterback Doug Pederson had a 12-year NFL run with the Dolphins and Packers, and offensive lineman Jeff Blackshear enjoyed a nine-year pro career with four teams after earning Kodak All-America honors in 1992.
Other ULM players named to the team include quarterback Robert Cobb, defensive linemen James Folston and Matt Shepherd, offensive linemen Reggie Lawson and Vic Zordan, and running backs Cisco Richard, Greg Robinson and Irving Spikes.
Stephen F. Austin’s players on the all-decade team include linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, an 11-year NFL veteran that played in Super Bowl XXXIX with the Philadelphia Eagles, and also earned four Pro Bowl selections. Another NFL veteran, former SFA receiver Mikhael Ricks, was a consensus 1997 All-American before his seven-year pro career with four teams. Defensive back Terrance Shaw was a second round pick of the San Diego Chargers in 1995, went on to a 10-year career with five teams, and played in Super Bowls XXXVI and XXXVII. Punter Chad Stanley was a two-time all-Southland first-teamer and consensus 1998 All-American that enjoyed an eight-year NFL tenure.
Other SFA players include four-time first-team all-conference defensive back Cedric Walker, receiver Chris Jefferson, and offensive linemen Lee Kirk and Joe Wylie.
Troy’s group of all-decade players include defensive lineman Al Lucas, a two-time all-Southland first-team member and consensus All-American that won the 1999 Buck Buchanan Award, signifying the nation’s best defensive player in Division I-AA. Offensive lineman Kerry Jenkins earned 1996 All-America honors before an eight-year NFL career, including participating in Super Bowl XXXVII. Defensive lineman Pratt Lyons also garnered 1996 All-America honors before a three-year run with the Tennessee Titans, including playing in the Super Bowl XXXIV.
Other Troy players on the all-decade team include offensive linemen Michael Moore and Cleve Roberts, linebacker Anthony Rabb, defensive back Eric Sloan, and defensive lineman Marcus Spriggs.
In addition to Mathis, Texas State’s contingent includes another running back, Reggie Rivers, who went on to a six-year run with the Denver Broncos after an All-America season in 1990. Other Texas State players on the all-decade team were quarterback Gilbert Price, running back Donald Wilkerson, defensive back Derrick Vaughn, and offensive linemen Adam Means, Spicer Sigman, and Ervin Thomas.
Sam Houston State placed defensive lineman Michael Bankston on the all-decade team, as the three-time all-conference first-teamer went on to a nine-year NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals and Cincinnati Bengals. Other Sam Houston players on the squad include quarterback Chris Chaloupka, wide receiver Matt Dominguez, the Southland’s all-time receiving yardage leader (3,273), punter Ryan Klaus, tight end Kevin Pesak, and offensive linemen Victor McKnight and Murphy Yates.
North Texas running back Erric Pegram went on to a seven-year career with four NFL teams and played in Super Bowl XXX. Other UNT players named to the all-decade team were linebacker Byron Gross and quarterback Mitch Maher. Jacksonville State placed wide receiver Joey Hamilton and quarterback Montressa Kirby on the All-Decade team.
Nicholls State defensive back Darryl Pounds was a four-time all-Southland first-team honoree, and went on to a six-year NFL career with the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos. He was joined on the all-decade team by two-time all-conference kicker Adam Diel.
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 will continue to recognize all-decade teams throughout the 2013 season.
For a complete list of the 1990s All-Decade Team, please click the link.