PEMBROKE, N.C. - Three Carson-Newman football players have beeen presented with Division II Conference Commissioners Association All-Region honors, the organization announced Friday morning.
Linebacker Temoris Coats (Greenwood, S.C.), running back Antonio Wimbush (Kingsland, Ga.) and offensive guard Phillip McDowell (Boiling Springs, S.C.) all earned spots on the second team.
Coats turned in one of the best ever seasons by a Carson-Newman linebacker. Coats led the Eagles with 96 tackles, 47 of which were solo stops. Most notably, he brought home state defensive player of the week honors from the Tennessee Sportswriters Association three times in his senior season and a program-record four times in his career. He earned the three honors this year following C-N's wins over Virginia Union and Catawba, and a loss to Newberry.
Coats inserted his name directly into the Carson-Newman record book with 18 tackles for loss on the year. He moved past Eric Rice who had 17 in 20\06 to take over the top spot for the single-season total for that stat.
Coats had a top-flight effort against Catawba when he led Carson-Newman with nine tackles. He inserted his name into the C--N record books with 5.5 tackles for loss. That's the third most in school history behind Daryl Gooden's 7.5 against Howard Payne in 1992 and William Moody's 6.0 against New Haven in 2002. The 5.5 tackles for loss are the second most in NCAA Division II this year.
He wrapped up his career at Burke-Tarr Stadium with a 15-tackle effort against Lenoir-Rhyne to put a bow on his home career with a career-high for stops. He had five double-digit tackle efforts on the year.
Wimbush turned in another stellar season to earn All-SAC first team honors for the second time in his career. He finished the season with 1,206 rushing yards to lead the South Atlantic Conference. The season-ending total represents the 18th best single-year on the ground for an Eagle rusher. He found the end zone seven times on the ground and once more through the air.
Wimbush had a string of four straight 100-yard games at the mid-point of the season and finished the year with 100-yard rushing efforts in five of Carson-Newman's final six games. He moved up to 11th on both Carson-Newman's career rushing yards and rushing touchdown charts.
Wimbush earned South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week honors following his performance at Virginia Union when he had 21 carries for 184 yards and three scores. That rushing tally marked a career high for Wimbush. He also went for more than 150 yards rushing against both Limestone and Virginia-Lynchburg.
His 8.0 yards per carry are the eighth highest single-season total in Carson-Newman football history and the second highest total in NCAA Division II this year.
McDowell rewrote Carson-Newman's knockdown record book in his junior year. McDowell took over the Eagles' all-time record in career knockdowns in week six against Limestone. McDowell bypassed Robby Ignagni (44) and now has 57 for his career.
While that alone is impressive, McDowell did it in grand fashion by besting his own single-game record with a whopping 10 knockdowns. McDowell played 54 snaps against the Saints. He had a knockdown every 5.4 plays.
He helped Carson-Newman to lead the South Atlantic Conference in rushing yards with 347.6 yards per game on the ground. The Eagles have the second highest rushing average in the country.