ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman's football program has landed six Eagles, five offensive players and one defensive, on the South Atlantic Conference's preseason All-Mountain Division team.
Carson-Newman running backs TJ King (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Tyree Nelson (Atlanta, Ga.), offensive lineman Christian Jones (Valdosta, Ga.), placekicker Christian Erwin (York, S.C.) and longsnapper Andrew Bradshaw (China Grove, N.C.) represent C-N on the offensive side of the ball. Safety Major Williams (Fort Myers, Fla.) is C-N's lone defensive representative.
King was Carson-Newman's second-leading rusher in 2022, tallying 496 yards on 108 carries. He tallied four touchdowns and averaged 49.6 yards per game. The sophomore had one, 100-yard game on the season, when he rushed for 100 yards on 17 carries against Erskine.
He tallied one of his four touchdowns on the year against the Flying Fleet. He also found the end zone against West Georgia (9/1), Limestone (9/17) and at Tusculum (10/8). King's long rush of 34 yards went for six against the Wolves. He had five games where he rushed for at least 50 yards and four carries that covered at least 20 yards.
Carson-Newman's fourth-leading rusher in 2022, Nelson was nicked up in the middle of the year, but still recovered to rush for 41.1 yards per game and 411 yards on 76 carries. He had a team-best 5.4 yards per rush. He also caught 12 passes for 75 yards. Nelson led Carson-Newman in all-purpose yardage for the year.
He finished the year with 893 yards when one factors in his 407 kick return yards. The freshman's top performance was an 89-yard day against Newberry (10/1). He caught a career-high four passes for 41 yards against Emory & Henry (10/29). He hit triple-digits in all-purpose yards in five games, topping out at 140 yards against the Wolves. He found the end zone three times on the season against Franklin Pierce (9/10), Newberry and Emory & Henry (10/29).
A force to be reckoned with on Carson-Newman's offensive line, Jones tallied 49 knockdowns across Carson-Newman's 11 games, the most in a single season for an Eagle offensive line man to All-American Phil McDowell's 44-knockdown season in 2019.
Jones graded out with a 85.91 percent average for the season. Jones high water mark for grade came against Limestone with a 90. He had a pair of eight-knockdown games against the Saints, as well as an eight-KD game against Lenoir-Rhyne. The Valdosta, Ga.-native helped clear the way for four Eagles to rush for more than 400 yards and two to earn All-SAC honors. Additionally, Carson-Newman ranked second in the SAC in fewest tackles for loss allowed and only gave up 1.5 sacks per game on the season.
Erwin started the year exclusively on kickoffs before taking over field goal and PAT duties in the back half of the year. A field position weapon, Erwin blasted 32 kickoffs for touchbacks out of his 56 tries – a rate of 57 percent.
As a result of his kicks, Carson-Newman's opponents' average starting field position was the 25.6 yard line. Erwin was third on the team in scoring. He nailed four of his seven field goals and 19-of-20 PATs. Three of Erwin's four makes were from greater than 35 yards, including two, season-long 42-yard tries against Erskine. He made three field goals against the Flying Fleet.
Bradshaw continues a long line of all-conference longsnappers. With Bradshaw's selection, Carson-Newman's last three long snappers – a stretch that dates back to 2012 – have all garnered all-league laurels. Dusty Nance and Dawson Campbell both were three-time honorees. This is Bradshaw's first accolade. In 22 career games, Bradshaw has only seen two punts or kicks blocked and those attempts were both 50-plus, line-drive field goals that ricocheted off the line seeking extra distance. In 2022, Bradshaw was one of four South Atlantic Conference snappers who didn't see a punt blocked on the season.
Williams finished third on the team in tackles and second in the SAC in tackles amongst defensive backs. The UVA transfer finished the year with 49 tackles and five stops for loss. The five tackles for loss are the second-most in C-N history among defensive backs behind All-American safety Darius Williams' 7.5 in 2019. Williams had a career-high seven tackles on four occasions against Limestone (9/17), Lenoir-Rhyne (9/24), Newberry (10/1) and Catawba (11/12). Those were among five games where he had at least five tackles. Williams had two picks on the year, both of which were against Erskine (10/15). He brought back one of those interceptions 28 yards for a defensive touchdown.
The sophomore had 15 pass break ups on the year, ranking third in the SAC and fifth in the nation. His 17 passes defensed are the 11th most in a single season in school history. His four pass break ups against UVA Wise (11/5) are tied for the fourth most in a single-game in school history. He was named SAC Special Team Player of the Week on Nov. 14. Williams became the first player in Carson-Newman history with more than 100 yards of punt returns in a single game. He brought two punts back for 111 yards.
The UVA transfer is the second Eagle to earn special teams player of the week honors this season, joining Trayzel Jureidini-Wyche. Williams returned one punt 86 yards for a score, the first punt return for a touchdown for Carson-Newman since Desmond Fairell brought one back against Virginia-Lynchburg in 2018. The 86-yarder is the fourth-longest punt return in SAC and Carson-Newman history. Williams has three of the seven-highest single-game punt return totals in the last three weeks for the C-N football program.
Carson-Newman opens the season on Aug. 31 on Thursday night against Virginia Lynchburg. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 6 p.m. with the AEC Tailgate Show on Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville), Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream is available with a subscription to FloSports.
