University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Football Golden Eagles Receive More Preseason Honors
7/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 6, 2006
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Senior offensive lineman George Batiste, senior kicker Darren McCaleb and sophomore tight end Shawn Nelson earned preseason first-team All-Conference USA honors from collegefootballnews.com today. In addition, senior offensive lineman Travis Cooley and junior safety Brandon Sumrall received second-team honors. Batiste was also ranked the No. 9 best player in Conference USA by the web site, while Sumrall and Nelson were No. 17 and No. 23 respectively.
Batiste, Cooley, McCaleb and Nelso earn preseason All-Conference USA honors for the third time this year, as all received the honor from The Sporting News and Street and Smiths. Sumrall earns preseason All-Conference USA honors for the first time this season.
Batiste, named to the 2006 Outland Trophy Preseason Watch List on June 19, returns for the fourth-straight season as the starter at right guard on the offensive line. The Avondale, La., native was a 2005 first-team All-Conference USA selection, also earning the honor from collegefootballnews.com. He was also selected as the No. 2 offensive lineman and the No. 16 overall player in Conference USA by the web site. He did not allow a sack in 2005 and led the offensive line with 11 pancakes and 54 knockdowns.
McCaleb returns as the most prolific kicker in school history. Last season, he was named second-team All-Conference USA and was an honorable-mention All-American selection by SI.com. He is the school's all-time leading scorer (255 points), and set the school record with 23 field goals in a season in 2005. Last year, he also set the school record for most extra points in a season (38) and most kick scoring points in a season (107 - 2005), while he also holds the career records in field goals (53) and extra points (96).
The Biloxi, Miss., native tied a school record with four field goals against Tulane (34, 33 and twice from 41) against East Carolina, matching Chris Seroka against Memphis (1988) and Rex Banks against Georgia (1984), while also setting the school record for points by a kicker against East Carolina (15).
Nelson had the best season by a Golden Eagle tight end in school history in 2005, earning Freshman All-American honors from The Sporting News and collegefootballnews.com. He was named third-team All-Conference USA and selected to Conference USA's All-Freshman team, as he led the team with 35 catches for 540 yards, averaging 15.4 yards per catch, while scoring five touchdowns. He was named the MVP in the New Orleans Bowl after he finished with six catches for 121 yards and scored two touchdowns.
Cooley, who missed the final two games of the 2005 season due to a torn patella tendon, was a second-team All-Conference USA selection last season. He will be fully healthy in time for spring two-a-days and will return for the fourth consecutive season as the starter at left guard. He allowed only one sack last year.
Sumrall returns a team-best 88 tackles (59 solos, 29 assists) and four interceptions this season. He earned second-team All-Conference USA honors last year and was also tabbed a sophomore All-American last season by collegefootballnews.com. He posted three games with double-digit tackles in 2005, including a career-best 15 tackles (seven solos, eight assists) against Marshall.
Southern Miss returns 49 letterwinners, including 16 starters from last year's squad, that finished 7-5 and won the 2005 New Orleans Bowl at Lafayette, 31-19, over Arkansas State. The Golden Eagles open the 2006 season on Sept. 2 at Florida. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.
