Deonate Gary, Clim Robbins, De'Michael Jackson and Darius Thomas represent Central State as this year's selections to the All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Team.
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) released their all-conference teams earlier this week. The all-conference team was selected on a vote by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
Gary was tabbed as an All-SIAC Defensive First Team selection for the second straight year. The 6'1 senior linebacker from Lakeland, Fla. finished the season with 106 tackles, giving him back-to-back 100+ tackles seasons. His 10.6 tackles per game ranked No. 21 in NCAA Div. II. He also led the Marauders with 4 sacks and 3 forced fumbles.
Jackson, Robbins and Thomas were selected to the SIAC Second Team.
Transferring to Central State for his senior season, Jackson was the featured running back in head coach Cedric Pearl's offense. Jackson rushed for 1017 yards and 5 touchdowns, becoming the first CSU runner to eclipse 1000+ yards in a season since 2007. His 1017 yards on the ground ranked No. 3 in the SIAC.
Helping to pave the way for Jackson was a 6'0 freshman center in Thomas. Thomas started every game for the Marauders and was widely considered to be the best freshman at his position in the conference. Despite his age, the coaching staff considered Thomas to be one of the leaders of the offense.
Robbins, who battled a lingering ankle injury throughout the entire season, still managed to be extremely productive as a cornerback and special teams player. Standing at 5'8, the senior from West Orlando, Fla. was often the man that opponents spent the most time game planning for due to his ability to create turnovers and run back kicks. While opposing quarterbacks rarely threw the ball to his side of the field, Robbins still led the Marauders with 3 interceptions and 9 pass break ups. When called upon, he was also one of the team's most reliable tacklers totaling 33 on the season. Teams often kicked away from Robbins on special teams. When he did get his hands on the ball, Robbins totaled 319 yards on kick returns and 149 yards on punt returns.
With the 2016 season coming to an end earlier this month, Central State will await to see if any additional players earn post-season recognition from entities such as D2CCA, AFCA, Box-To-Row, USA Today, HeroSports.com, D2Football.com, USA College Football, Don Hansen, Black College Football Hall of Fame and others.
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Wednesday, November 16th 2016 at 2:05PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
