Big South Announces 2017 Football Annual Awards
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Kennesaw State redshirt-junior quarterback Chandler Burks (Douglasville, Ga.) has been voted the 2017 Big South Football Offensive Player of the Year, while Charleston Southern senior defensive lineman Anthony Ellis (Apopka, Fla.) and Monmouth senior defensive back Mike Basile (Brick, N.J.) have been voted the Co-Defensive Player of the Year by the conference’s head coaches and media panel, it was announced today. In addition, Kennesaw State linebacker Bryson Armstrong (Marietta, Ga.) and Monmouth running back Pete Guerriero (Lyndhurst, N.J.) shared Freshman of the Year honors. Kennesaw State placekicker Justin Thompson (Evans, Ga.) was voted Special Teams Player of the Year and KSU head coach Brian Bohannon was selected Coach of the Year. Burks was voted the football Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s sports information directors.
Burks is the first player in league history to be voted both the Big South’s Offensive Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the same season. A finalist for the Walter Payton Award as the nation’s top player, Burks led the Big South with a single-season quarterback-record 15 rushing touchdowns, and directed the Owls to a 5-0 league record for the outright Big South championship. He earned four Big South Offensive Player of the Week honors in 2017, and was the STATS National Offensive Player of the Week and CFPA National Performer of the Week after accounting for five touchdowns and 245 yards of offense in the regular-season finale against Monmouth. Burks leads the Big South in scoring (90 points), overall touchdowns (15), is fourth in rushing yards (912) and fourth in total offense (174.5 yards per game). He enters the FCS Playoffs with the opportunity to become the first player in Big South annals with 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards passing in the same year, as he completed 56-of-117 passes for 1,007 yards and six scores. Burks directed Kennesaw State to the nation’s top rushing offense and scored a rushing TD in six-straight games during the season -- the second-longest streak by a Big South quarterback. Burks is a 3.88 student studying Sports Management and is on the ballot for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors after being named Academic All-District last week. He was the Big South’s representative at the 2017 NCAA Career in Sports Forum last May.
Burks received 13 of the 18 first-place votes cast and 30 total points to finish ahead of runner-up Stephen Calvert of Liberty (11 points and three first-place votes) and Monmouth’s Kenji Bahar (eight points).
Ellis and Basile are the first players to tie for the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year honor, as both received 20 total points and seven first-place votes. Ellis is the fourth repeat winner of the league’s top defensive honor, as he led the Big South in TFL for the third-straight year with 16.0, and tied for the most forced fumbles with three. A two-time Defensive Player of the Week selection, he finished second in the league with a career-high 9.0 sacks and was part of a unit that set the Big South single-season team sack record with 34. Ellis finished in the top 10 in the conference with two interceptions, posted 52 overall tackles (30 solo), and recorded three multi-sack games and six multi-TFL efforts in 2017. In five Big South games, the Buck Buchanan Award finalist was tops with 12.0 TFL -- including a Big South single-game record 5.5 TFL vs. Gardner-Webb in Week 10 -- in addition to a league-best 5.5 sacks plus 34 total tackles.
Basile is also a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award as the nation’s top defensive player, as he leads the Big South with 113 total tackles -- including a Big South single-season record 87 solo stops. A two-time Big South Defensive Player of the Week honoree, he led the Hawks in tackles in every game this season, and posted five games with at least 10. Basile leads the nation with 7.9 solo tackles per game and is 11th overall with 10.3 stops per contest. The third player in league annals with three 100-tackle seasons, Basile had a Big South single-game record 18 solo tackles (20 total), plus 4.0 TFL, 2.0 sacks and a forced fumble in the Hawks’ Week 6 win at Holy Cross. He leads all Big South defensive backs with 9.5 TFL (sixth in the league) and posted a TFL in seven of his 11 appearances in 2017.
Armstrong and Guerriero are the first freshmen to share the league’s Freshman of the Year award, as the duo tied for the top spot with 19 points in the voting. Both are also finalists for the Jerry Rice Award as the nation’s top freshman player. Armstrong leads the Big South with a league-record 10.0 sacks and ranks first in the country with four fumble recoveries. A four-time Big South weekly honoree (two Freshman of the Week and two Defensive Player of the Week honors), Armstrong was the STATS National Freshman of the Week in Week 3 and was an Honorable Mention four additional weeks during the season. He is fourth in the Big South with 82 tackles and 7.5 per game, in addition to ranking fifth with 10.5 TFL, tied for fourth with three interceptions and tied for seventh with nine passes defended. Armstrong forced three fumbles and posted a sack in seven games this season, including four-straight contests, and had three multi-sack efforts.
Guerriero collected three Big South weekly honors in 2017 -- Offensive Player of the Week (Week 2) and two Freshman of the Week awards in Weeks 1 & 10. He leads the Big South with 1,352 all-purpose yards to rank 10th in the nation in per game average (135.2), and is second overall in the league with 1,017 rushing yards. Guerriero had a league-high six 100-yard rushing games this season, including a season-best 189 yards at nationally-ranked Lehigh in Week 2, and has surpassed 100 yards on the ground the last four weeks. He set the Big South record for most rushing yards after two games with 328, and amassed more than 200 all-purpose yards in a game twice (263 in win at Lehigh and 257 in victory over Liberty). Guerriero posted four multi-TD efforts and finished with 10 scores during the regular-season (nine rushing plus a 95-yard kickoff return TD). He gained a league-best 593 rushing yards in Big South action and was the only rusher to average 100 yards against conference foes (118.6).
Presbyterian College running back Torrance Marable finished third in the Freshman of the Year voting with 11 points.
Thompson tallied 85 points to lead all Big South kickers and finished second overall in scoring. He was a perfect 43-of-43 on his PAT attempts and made 14-of-17 field goals for a league-leading 82.4 percentage. Thompson ranks seventh in the nation in field goal percentage and 13th with 1.27 field goals per game. He earned Big South Special Teams Player of the Week after making 3-of-3 field goals in snowy conditions at Montana State in Week 10 -- including the game-winning 37-yarder. Thompson also tied for the league-lead with three 10-point kicking games, and made at least five consecutive field goals twice this season, including eight in succession during Weeks 2-7. Thompson finished with 23 total points in the Special Teams Player of the Year voting, ahead of Charleston Southern punter Kyle Reighard (14 points) and Liberty kickoff returner Frankie Hickson (10 points).
Bohannon is a finalist for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award after leading the Owls to a 10-1 record, an undefeated 5-0 league mark for the outright Big South championship, and a playoff berth in just the program’s third season of existence. KSU leads the nation in rushing offense with 339.0 yards per game, has allowed the fewest sacks in the country (0.45 per game), and is tops in the FCS with 32 takeaways, 21 interceptions and in turnover margin (+2.09 per game). The Owls carry a 10-game win streak into the FCS Playoffs, and became the first Big South member to hold three consecutive league opponents to three points-or-less. Kennesaw State has scored at least 27 points in seven of 10 games (five with at least 30) and has an average margin of victory of 19.5 points (21.2 vs. FCS opponents and 25.0 against Big South members). KSU is also pacing ahead of three Big South single-season records -- scoring defense with 14.3 points allowed, rushing defense with 100.5 yards allowed and total defense with 281.5 yards allowed. The Owls have rushed for more than 300 yards in a Big South-record eight consecutive games, and set the conference-game rushing record with 498 in Week 7 at Liberty. Furthermore, Kennesaw State’s defense has recorded an interception in every game, owns a +110-point margin in turnover scoring (121-10) and its +23 turnover margin is currently the top mark in a single-season in the Big South record book.
Bohannon received 10 of 18 first-place votes and 28 total points, just ahead of Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan (eight first-place votes and 26 points).
The Big South also announced its All-Conference first and second teams. The squads are comprised of 12 offensive and defensive players and five special teams players, plus any ties. Kennesaw State led the way with 17 total selections -- the most by a Big South member since 2009, while KSU’s 10 first-team honorees are the most in the league since 2007. Monmouth and Liberty tied for second with 12 selections, followed by Charleston Southern (10), Presbyterian College (4) and Gardner-Webb (2).
Burks, Basile, Ellis, Armstrong, Guerriero and Thompson each earned a spot on the All-Conference First-Team. Guerriero earned spots at two positions (running back and kick returner), while Basile and Liberty’s Trey Turner became the 11th and 12th players with All-Conference distinction all four years in the Big South. The list of 2017 All-Conference members and award winners, as well as the All-Academic Team, appears below.
2017 BIG SOUTH FOOTBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS AND ANNUAL AWARD WINNERS
FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OFFENSE
QB - Chandler Burks, R-Jr., Kennesaw State
RB - Pete Guerriero, R-Fr., Monmouth
RB - Torrance Marable, Fr., Presbyterian College
WR - Reggie White Jr., R-Jr., Monmouth
WR - Antonio Gandy-Golden, Soph., Liberty
WR - Justin Sumpter, R-Jr., Kennesaw State
TE - Jake Powell, R-Soph., Monmouth
OL - Alex Thompson, Sr., Monmouth
OL - Zach Mitchler, R-Jr., Kennesaw State
OL - C.J. Collins, R-Jr., Kennesaw State
OL - Frank Cirone, Sr., Charleston Southern
OL - Ryan Wetzel, R-Jr., Monmouth
DEFENSE
DL - Anthony Ellis, Sr., Charleston Southern
DL - Johnny Robinson, Jr., Charleston Southern
DL - Solomon Brown, R-Jr., Charleston Southern
DL - Desmond Johnson, R-Soph., Kennesaw State
LB - Bryson Armstrong, R-Fr., Kennesaw State
LB - Kenyatta Dunbar, Sr., Gardner-Webb
LB - Anthony Gore Jr., R-Jr., Kennesaw State
LB - Izzy Sam, R-Sr., Kennesaw State
DB - Mike Basile, Sr., Monmouth
DB - Rock Ya-Sin, Jr., Presbyterian College
DB - Taylor Henkle, R-Jr., Kennesaw State
DB - Teddie Martinez, R-Sr., Monmouth
SPECIAL TEAMS
PK - Justin Thompson, Jr., Kennesaw State
P - Kyle Reighard, R-Soph., Charleston Southern
LS - Hunter Winstead, Gr., Liberty
KR - Pete Guerriero, R-Fr., Monmouth
PR - Kamau Dumas, R-Sr., Monmouth
SECOND-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OFFENSE
QB - Stephen Calvert, Soph., Liberty
RB - Carrington Mosley, R-Sr., Liberty
RB - Jake McKenzie, R-Jr., Kennesaw State
WR - Kameron Brown, R-Soph., Charleston Southern
WR - B.J. Farrow, R-Jr., Liberty
WR - DaShawn Davis, Jr., Presbyterian College
OL - Joseph Alexander Jr., R-Jr., Kennesaw State
OL - Ryan Warrior, R-Jr., Kennesaw State
OL - Matt Frank, R-Sr., Kennesaw State
OL - Matt Stoneberg, R-Sr., Monmouth
OL - Dontae Duff, R-Soph., Liberty
DEFENSE
DL - Tonarius Portress, Sr., Kennesaw State
DL - Juwan Wells, Jr., Liberty
DL - Manny Maragoto, R-Sr., Monmouth
DL - Josh Ramseur, R-Jr., Gardner-Webb
LB - Grant Beidel, R-Sr., Presbyterian College
LB - J.D. Sosebee, R-Soph., Charleston Southern
LB - Zane Cruz, Sr., Charleston Southern
LB - Solomon McGinty, Gr., Liberty
DB - Shadarius Hopkins, Jr., Charleston Southern
DB - Jeremy Peters, Jr., Liberty
DB - Jace White, R-Jr., Kennesaw State
DB - Tymere Berry, R-Soph., Monmouth
SPECIAL TEAMS
PK - Alex Probert, Soph., Liberty
P - Trey Turner, Gr., Liberty
LS - Drew McCracken, Jr., Kennesaw State
KR - Frankie Hickson, R-Soph., Liberty
PR - Taz Lindsey, Jr., Charleston Southern
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
James Allen, DB, Jr., Charleston Southern
Will Millikan, OL, Jr., Gardner-Webb
Chandler Burks, QB, R-Jr., Kennesaw State
Hunter Winstead, LS, Gr., Liberty
Mike Basile, DB, Sr., Monmouth
Elijah Turner, DB, Soph., Presbyterian
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Chandler Burks, QB, R-Jr., Kennesaw State
CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Mike Basile, DB, Sr., Monmouth
Anthony Ellis, DL, Sr., Charleston Southern
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Justin Thompson, PK, Jr., Kennesaw State
C0-FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Bryson Armstrong, LB, R-Fr., Kennesaw State
Pete Guerriero, RB, R-Fr., Monmouth
COACH OF THE YEAR
Brian Bohannon, Kennesaw State
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Chandler Burks, QB, R-Jr., Kennesaw State