VIDEO: Damian Baker Interview

VIDEO: Derek Evans Interview

NEWBERRY, S.C. – Carson-Newman running back Damian Baker (Columbus, Miss.) and center Derek Evans (Alcoa, Tenn.) have earned first team All-Region honors from the Division II Conference Commissioners Association, the organization announced Tuesday afternoon.

Placekicker Carson Wise (Blacksburg, Va.) was a second team selection. 

Damian Baker finished the regular season ranked in the top 25 in the nation in five rushing categories and as the SAC Offensive Player of the Year and a first team all-SAC selection.  He closed out the regular season slate with 1,403 rushing yards to rank No. 11 in Division II, while his 116.9 rushing yards per game was good for No. 20 in the country.  Baker piled up 7.16 yards per carry to rank No. 9 in the nation and his 18 rushing touchdowns are No. 11 in D-II.  

The tailback averaged 9.8 points per game to finish at No. 20 in the nation to help the Eagles rank No. 5 in the country as a team with 43.3 points per outing. 

"Being able to come back and play that first game was big," Baker said. "That's when it came back to reality that I was actually playing football. I'm thankful for what Derek and the offensive line did up front, and also for what Dre (De'Andre Thomas) did at quarterback.  Couldn't have done this without them."

Baker accounted for 128.5 all-purpose yards per game for the Eagles to fuel a team rushing attack that is currently No. 4 in the nation with 327 yards per game.  He turned in six 100-yard rushing games this season, including 249 yards on the ground vs. Mars Hill on Sept. 26 – the seventh highest single game tally in Carson-Newman history.  Baker was just three yards shy of his second 200-yard game this season vs. Tusculum in the season finale as he notched 197 rushing yards.

Baker has also factored prominently in the Carson-Newman record books in his senior season.  He has a pair of four touchdown days this year, against Mars Hill and Newberry and is the only player since the turn of the century to score four rushing touchdowns twice in the same season. 

With his 1,403 rushing yards, Baker has the eighth highest single-season total in Carson-Newman history and his 18 rushing touchdowns are the seventh highest single-season total in school history. 

On top of that his 114 points scored this year are tied for sixth all-time in school history.

Baker is the 12^th Eagle to earn offensive player of the year honors from the league office.  He is the first such honoree since Brandon Haywood in 2012.  Baker is Carson-Newman's first running back to garner the accolade since Heath Hawkins in 1998 and the seventh overall.

Derek Evans has done something no other Carson-Newman offensive lineman has done since the C-N sports information department began tracking offensive linemen stats in 2012.  Evans is the first C-N offensive lineman with a perfect gradeout on Mike Turner's 80-point scale.  Evans has done that three times this season (Shorter, Newberry and North Greenville).

"It felt like a long road getting to this point," Evans said. "I had a big learning curve my first season; I felt like I got a lot better playing next to Robby (Ignagni, an All-American lineman for the Eagles last year). Then this past year I felt like I got even better as an individual, but also we as a unit progressed substantially."

The senior center leads Carson-Newman in knockdowns with 16 this season and is second all-time with 42. 

Evans has cleared the way for a 1,000-yard rusher in all three of his seasons as a starter for Carson-Newman.  The Eagles rushed for 570 yards in the regular season finale – the fifth highest single-game tally in Carson-Newman football history – behind Evans blocking. Carson-Newman has cracked 60 points three times and 600 yards of total offense four times behind Evans' road-grading capabilities.

Carson Wise snags second team all-SAC honors in a year where he was named SAC Special Teams Player of the Week on three occasions in addition to his second team all-region honor.  Wise is the first Carson-Newman player since fellow kicker Curt Duncan in 2012 to earn three SAC special teams player of the week accolades.

He does so after tying Duncan's school record for points in a game by a kicker with 17 in the Eagles' finale with Tusculum. 

Wise drilled three field goals and converted all eight of his extra point attempts in the Eagles' 65-32 stomping of Tusculum in the regular season finale. 

Wise nailed a career long 42-yard field goal before the half let out Saturday and also hit from 25 and 30 yards on the day. 

Wise has already inserted himself into C-N's record books this season.  His 104 points this year are the second most in school history for a kicker. Curt Duncan set that mark in 2013 with 109.  His 65 made PATs are third most all-time and his 13 made field goals are fourth. 

Division II Conference Commissioners Association All-Super Region II Football Teams