PEMBROKE, N.C. - Four Carson-Newman football players have been presented with D2CCA All-Region honors, the organization announced Friday afternoon.
Linebacker Sha'Heem Stupart (Taylors, S.C.), safety Darius Williams (St. Petersburg, Fla.), defensive lineman Montel Presley (Bushnell, Fla.) and offensive lineman Phil McDowell (Boiling Springs, S.C.) all made the second team.
Sha'Heem Stupart
Stupart concluded one of the greatest careers for a Carson-Newman linebacker in program history. The native of the Palmetto State finished his C-N career with 312 career tackles, the seventh most all-time in Carson-Newman history. He also racked up 24 stops behind the line and 6.5 sacks in his C-N career.
As a senior, Stupart finished with the year as Carson-Newman's leading tackler and the third leading tackler in the South Atlantic Conference. He made a career-best 94 stops to go along with 9.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and two forced fumbles.
Stupart finished his career with 11, 10-tackle performances, including a career-high 16 against Limestone on Oct. 7. Stupart was Carson-Newman's leading tackler on 16 occasions in his career and finished with eight or more tackles in 21 games, nearly half of his Carson-Newman career.
He is one of three players in the last decade for the Eagles to have a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception in one game.
Darius Williams led the South Atlantic Conference in interceptions with five in his sophomore season and helped Carson-Newman finish the year with the most picks in the South Atlantic Conference with 14.
Williams tallied a pick in three straight games from Sept. 23 against Newberry to Oct. 7 against Limestone.
His top effort though came against Tusculum when he snared an INT and returned it 58 yards to the house for the Eagles' lone defensive touchdown of the season.
Williams five interceptions are the most for Carson-Newman since All-American Eien Jacob snared that many in 2013. He was 19th nationally in interceptions.
Williams also finished the year with 48 tackles, the fourth most on Carson-Newman's team.
He and the rest of the Eagles' secondary limited every receiver they faced under their season averages, with the exception of Mars Hill's Keshaun Taylor and Craig Rucker.
Presley was one of the interior anchors for a defensive line that led the South Atlantic Conference in rushing defense and produced the Eagles' second best rush defense since the year 2000. The Eagles allowed only 95 yards per game on the ground. C-N also had the conference's best total defense and the second best scoring defense.
Presley finished the year with 43 tackles, the third most tackles among Carson-Newman linemen and the most for an interior lineman in the South Atlantic Conference.
His top effort came in the Eagles' 30-21 win over then No. 23 Catawba on Sept. 30. He had nine tackles that day, the second most in his career, to go along with 2.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and a sack.
The Bushnell, Fla.-native finished the year with 6.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. Presley was a modicum of consistency, he had at least five tackles in half the Eagles' games.
He was named the South Atlantic Conference's defensive player of the week following his nine-tackle performance against Catawba.
McDowell led Carson-Newman in knockdowns and overall grade in his sophomore season. McDowell produced a whopping 33 knockdowns on the year, good for the single-season C-N record, including the two highest single-game knockdown marks.
McDowell had seven knockdowns in the Eagles' win against Limestone and six against Mars Hill in another C-N victory.
He helped pave the way for Carson-Newman's offense to rank second in the league with 409 yards per game gained, including a league-best 275 yards on the ground. The Eagles ranked in the top 10 nationally in yards rushing.