10 Lumberjacks Garner 2016 All-Southland Conference Honors
11/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
FRISCO, Texas - Ten Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks have earned All-Southland Conference honors, announced today by the league office. Junior defensive end John Franklin earned first team honors with senior defensive end Kedrick Harrison, junior punt returner Trae Hart and junior offensive lineman Josh Keith named second team selections.
In addition, six Lumberjacks were named as honorable mention selections. The group is comprised of senior quarterback Zach Conque, redshirt freshman h-back Kiki Hill, freshman wide receiver Tamrick Pace, redshirt freshman placekicker Storm Ruiz, senior linebacker George Stone III and redshirt freshman safety Alize Ward.
The four first and second team selection for SFA is the most since the 2012 season when the Lumberjacks had six first team and one second team honorees. For Franklin, it is the second All-SLC accolade of his career, earning second team honors in 2015, with Harrison, Hart and Keith picking up their first career all-conference honor.
FIRST TEAM SELECTION
John Franklin - Defensive End
Franklin entered the year as a preseason first team All-Southland Conference selection and lived up to that billing, finishing the year with career-bests in every statistical category with 32 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks. The junior was sixth in the conference in sacks and seventh in tackles for loss while proving to be a nightmare for opposing offenses, ranking eighth nationally with four forced fumble to go along with his pair of fumble recoveries and nine quarterback hurries.
SECOND TEAM SELECTIONS
Kedrick Harrison - Defensive End
The other side of SFA's vaunted defensive line, Harrison closed out his SFA career with his best season, finishing with 37 tackles and leading the team with 10.5 sacks and 17.0 tackles for loss. Harrison's 10.5 sacks was tops in the Southland Conference and ranked seventh nationally, while his 17.0 tackles for loss was second in the SLC and 17th among the FCS ranks, closing out his senior season with the fourth-highest TFL tally in program history and ranking among the all-time Lumberjack leaders in both categories.
Trae Hart - Punt Return Specialist
Hart made his presence felt from the opening whistle, returning 17 punts for 210 yards and a touchdown. His 12.4 average was second in the Southland Conference and ninth nationally, tying for seventh in SFA's single-season history for punt return average. He had a long of 75, which when for a touchdown against West Alabama, while reeling off a 36-yarder at Texas Tech in his Lumberjack debut. Also one of SFA's top receiving threats, Hart was third on the team in both receptions (42) and receiving yards (511), hauling in a pair of touchdowns.
Josh Keith - Offensive Lineman
Keith proved to be a valuable addition to the Lumberjack roster in 2016, emerging from a projected back-up to a reliable starter on the offensive line. Beginning the year as the number two right tackle, Keith was called upon following injuries across the line and started seven games for SFA, six of which came at left tackle. He graded the highest among all Lumberjack offensive linemen through the course of the 2016 season, responsible for just one sack.
HONORABLE MENTION SELECTIONS
Zach Conque - Quarterback
Now a three-time honorable mention selection, Conque closed out his SFA career with another impressive performance. The senior racked up over 2,600 yards of total offense, throwing for 2,201 yards while rushing for 422 and accounting for 25 touchdowns on the year. Conque ranked 19th nationally with 10 rushing touchdowns, tied for the most in the SLC, while ranking seventh in the conference in passing yards per game (200.1) and sixth in total offense (238.5), finishing his career among the Lumberjack all time leaders in seven different statistical categories.
Kiki Hill - H-Back/Tight End
Hill had a strong start to his SFA career, finishing with 19 catches for 172 yards and a pair of touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. Hill pulled in the first touchdown of his Lumberjack career with an 18-yard reception against Abilene Christian, pushing SFA's lead to 38-7, followed by a seven-yarder against Northwestern State to give SFA the 30-21 lead. Hill played in 10 games with seven starts, also providing key blocking for the Lumberjack offensive gameplan.
Tamrick Pace - Wide Receiver
Pace emerged as a breakout star for SFA in his true freshman season, leading the team with 52 catches for 836 yards and eight touchdowns - the second-best receiving performance by a freshman in program history. Pace ranked seventh in the SLC in receptions per game (4.7) and fifth in receiving yards per game (76.0), registering four 100-yard receiving performances on the season. His eight touchdowns was the most by an SFA receiver since Mike Brooks' 11 in 2012 as the Brownsboro native started seven games for the Lumberjacks.
Storm Ruiz - Kicker
Ruiz provided some consistency in the kicking game for the Lumberjacks, going 13-for-17 in field goal attempts and 41-of-41 in PAT attempts in 2016. Ruiz hit three of his four field goal attempts from 40-yards or longer, including a long of 44, ranking third in the conference in kick scoring (7.3 ppg). He was also one of just two kickers in the SLC that was perfect in PAT attempts, hitting 20 more than the other perfect kicker, leading SFA with 80 points on the season.
George Stone - Linebacker
Stone anchored SFA's defense, leading the team with 85 tackles with 7.0 tackles for loss and a sack. He had four games of double-digit tackles on the year, including a career-best 14 against Central Arkansas, and was 10th in the conference averaging 7.7 tackles per game. Stone also had a pair of interceptions on the year, including a 46-yard pick-six against Southeastern Louisiana, and had a pair of fumble recoveries with a forced fumble against the Bears.
Alize Ward - Safety
Ward emerged as a key component of SFA's defensive secondary, ranking fourth on the team with 58 tackles in his redshirt freshman season. Ward finished with 1.5 tackles for loss, a pair of quarterback hurries and three pass breakups, as well as his first collegiate interception against 13th-ranked McNeese, setting up SFA's game-winning touchdown drive. Ward also assumed kick return duties in the second half of the season, returning 14 kicks for 316 yards (22.6 average), including a 64-yarder in the win against Incarnate Word.
-SFA-
