SCAC announces 2010 All-SCAC Football team

SUWANEE, Ga. – DePauw University and Millsaps College finished 1-2 in the 2010 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) football standings, and for that success on the gridiron, both were awarded with two major awards each with today’s announcement of the 2010 All-SCAC Football team. Complete Release

In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the conference, Alex Koors of DePauw was selected as the league's Offensive Player-of-the-Year while Will Hawkins of Millsaps was voted the league's Defensive Player-of-the-Year – both for the second consecutive year.

Hawkins teammate, Michael Galatas, was selected as Special Teams Player-of-the-Year for the third consecutive year while DePauw’s Robby Long earned SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honors for the second straight year.

In the same balloting, Jordan Gay of Centre College was named the SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year.

Alex Koors, a 6-2, 175-pound senior receiver from Indianapolis, Ind., had 86 receptions for 1,255 yards and 16 touchdowns this season to lead all SCAC receivers. He caught a touchdown pass in 10 of 11 games this season and had 100+ yards receiving in six game. A four-year starter, 2009 All-American and three-time all-conference selection, Koors ends his career as the owner of every major SCAC career receiving mark, including total receptions (255), yards receiving (3,850), yards receiving per game (96.25) and receiving touchdowns (42). Koors is also the first receiver in the history of the league to twice be honored as SCAC Player-of-the-Year.

Koors received five votes in the Offensive POTY voting with senior running back Walter Arrington of Birmingham-Southern College receiving two votes and junior running back Shane Bowser of Millsaps College receiving the remaining vote.

Will Hawkins, a 6-2, 230-pound senior linebacker from Nettleton, Miss., led the SCAC in tackles for the second consecutive year. His 117 tackles this season are the ninth-most for a single season in league history and his 84 solo tackles are the third-most. He had double digit tackles in eight of his team’s 10 games, including a career-high 21 against DePauw on Oct. 2. Hawkins also finished tied for fifth in the conference with 10.5 tackles-for-loss and added three sacks, two interceptions and one fumble recovery. A 2009 All-American and two-time all conference selection, Hawkins became just the second SCAC student-athlete to earn Player-of-the-Year honors in two separate sports – excluding cross country and track and field – when he won the 2009 SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year award following his selection as the league’s Offensive Player-of-the-Year in baseball in the spring of 2009.

Hawkins received six votes in the Defensive POTY balloting while senior strong safety Jon Lambert of DePauw received the remaining two first-place votes.

Michael Galatas, a 5-10, 185-pound receiver/kick returner from Lacombe, La., becomes just the second SCAC student-athlete to earn three consecutive SCAC Special Teams Player-of-the-Year awards, equaling Brian Britt of Centre who won the award in 1999, 2000 and 2001. It is the fifth consecutive year a Millsaps player has received the honor. Galatas finished fifth in the SCAC in all-purpose yards (1,260), which included 477 kick return yards and 197 punt return yards. He ends his career as the school’s all-time leader in kick return yards (1,670) and is second all-time in all-purpose yards (4,242). As a receiver, Galatas was selected First Team All-SCAC after catching 47 passes for 566 yards and three touchdowns.

Galatas garnered four votes in the Special Teams Player-of-the-Year balloting to edge senior receiver/kick returner Caleb Urban of Trinity, who received three votes. Junior receiver/kick returner Jordan Albright of Centre received the remaining first-place vote.

Jordan Gay, a 6-0, 190-pound sophomore transfer punter/placekicker from Danville, Ky., led the SCAC in punting (43.1 yards per punt) and placed 10 inside the 20. He would rank 11th in punting average nationally if he had enough punts to qualify. Centre is currently second in all of Division III in net punting (38.58), largely due to leg of Gay. As a placekicker, he led the SCAC in scoring among kickers with 70 points (7.0 points per game) and also led in field goals made with 12 (tied for seventh most in SCAC single-season history). His 52-yard field goal against Millsaps was just one yard off the conference record. Gay also assisted greatly on kickoff defense coverage with 11 touchbacks.

Gay received five votes in the NOTY balloting, followed by first-year receiver Chad Morehead of Sewanee-University of the South who received two votes. First-year defensive back Jonathan Moore of Millsaps received the remaining first-place vote.

After guiding DePauw to its second consecutive SCAC football title and fourth in 13 seasons of competition, Robby Long was selected by his peers as SCAC Coach-of-the-Year. In his second year as head coach, Long led the Tigers to a perfect 6-0 conference mark and a berth in the Division III playoffs for the second consecutive season. In a season of historic firsts, DePauw started the year 9-0 for the first time in school history and also was selected to host a NCAA playoff game for the first time. Despite the 45-35 first-round playoff loss to eighth-ranked Trine University, the Tigers equaled the school record for single-season wins with nine – matching the mark set in both 1981 and 1996.

Long captured five votes in the COTY balloting. Loren Dawson of Austin College, Eddie Garfinkle of Birmingham-Southern and Aaron Pelch of Millsaps received one vote each.

To read the complete 2010 All-SCAC Football release, click here.