University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Five Golden Eagles Named to Preseason C-USA Football Team
7/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 28, 2009
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Five Southern Miss players were named to the 2009 Conference USA preseason team, which was released by the league office in Irving, Texas. Seniors Damion Fletcher (RB, Biloxi, Miss.), Ryan Hebert (OL, Shriever, La.) and Eddie Hicks (DB, Clarksdale, Miss.), along with junior Anthony Gray (DL, Philadelphia, Miss.) and sophomore DeAndre Brown (WR, Ocean Springs, Miss.) garnered honors in a vote by the league's 12 coaches.
Houston junior quarterback Case Keenum, the 2008 Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year, was chosen to repeat that honor this fall as he headlines the list of 2009 preseason football award winners, while East Carolina senior DL C.J. Wilson was named the preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Tulsa return specialist Damaris Johnson earned Special Teams Player of the Year honors.
East Carolina, which placed a league-high three defensive players on the preseason All-Conference team, tied with Southern Miss for the most overall preseason selections with five. Houston and Tulsa each had four selections to the squad, while Marshall produced three.
Fletcher, the school's all-time leading rusher, earned his nod by tallying 1,313 yards last season during his junior campaign and looks to become just the ninth Division I FBS player to rush for 1,000 yards in all four seasons of his career.
Hebert started every game on the offensive line for the Golden Eagles in 2008 and helped the squad rush for over 2,000 yards for the third consecutive season, while also tallying the most total yards (5,636) in school history.
As for Hicks, the defensive back posted 174 career tackles over his first three season with Southern Miss and has registered eight interceptions in his career. That interception number is more than any other player currently on the roster.
Gray recorded 29 tackles last season for the Golden Eagles, which included a team-best 6.0 sacks. He also registered 7.5 tackles for loss number, which ranked second on the team, and added two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
Brown, a Freshman All-American a year ago, tallied a school-record 67 receptions during his initial year with the Golden Eagles to go along with 1,117 yards receiving. His reception total and 12 touchdown receptions were more than any other freshman a year ago.
The 2009 C-USA Football season kicks off on Friday, September 4 when Tulsa travels to Tulane in a game that will air on ESPN. Nine other teams open the following day, with UTEP hosting non-conference foe Buffalo in the first CBS College Sports telecast of the season. Opening weekend concludes on Sunday, September 6 when Memphis hosts nationally-ranked Mississippi on ESPN.
Season tickets are still available for the 2009 Southern Miss football season and can be purchased online at www.SouthernMiss.com, over the phone at 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or at the Pat Ferlise Ticket Office (West 4th Street) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-through-Friday.
2009 C-USA FOOTBALL COACHES PRESEASON AWARDS
Offensive Player of the Year
Case Keenum, QB, Houston
Defensive Player of the Year
C.J. Wilson, DL, East Carolina
Special Teams Player of the Year
Damaris Johnson, KR, Tulsa
Offense
QB - Case Keenum, Jr., Houston
RB - Bryce Beall, So., Houston
RB - Damion Fletcher, Sr., Southern Miss
OL - Sean Allen, Sr., East Carolina
OL - Carl Barnett, Sr., Houston
OL - Ryan Hebert, Sr., Southern Miss
OL - Tyler Holmes, So., Tulsa
OL - Dominik Riley, Jr., Memphis
OL - Jake Seitz, Sr., UAB
WR - DeAndre Brown, So., Southern Miss
WR - Tyron Carrier, So., Houston
WR - Emmanuel Sanders, Sr., SMU
TE - Cody Slate, Sr., Marshall
Defense
DL - Anthony Gray, Jr., Southern Miss
DL - Albert McClellan, Sr., Marshall
DL - Bruce Miller, Jr., UCF
DL - C.J. Wilson, Sr., East Carolina
LB - Mike Bryan, Sr., Tulsa
LB - Mario Harvey, Sr., Marshall
LB - Nick Johnson, Sr., East Carolina
DB - Van Eskridge, Sr., East Carolina
DB - Eddie Hicks, Sr., Southern Miss
DB - James Lockett, Sr., Tulsa
DB - Andrew Sendejo, Sr., Rice
First Team Special Teams
K - Ben Hartman, Sr., East Carolina
P - Ross Thevenot, Jr., Tulane
KR - D.A. Griffin, Jr., Memphis
