Appalachian dominates SoCon honors

Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards has been named the Southern Conference's Offensive Player of the Year, and Mountaineers linebacker Jacque Roman earned top defensive player honors.

Not enough? ASU coach Jerry Moore won his sixth league coach of the year award.

All that hardware is headed for Boone after a vote by the SC's coaches.

They also named Samford QB Dustin Taliaferro as SC Freshman of the Year, and Furman senior offensive tackle Joel Bell was awarded the Jacobs Blocking Award, presented annually to the league's top blocker.

But this was the Mountaineers' show; 10 Appalachian players were named to the SC's first team.

Edwards had another remarkable season as a junior, totaling 3,036 yards in total offense while passing for 25 TDs and running for nine more. Roman led ASU's defense with 107 tackles--six for losses--plus three recovered fumbles, three sacks and two interceptions.

--Stan Olson

The coaches selections:
First Team Offense
QB Armanti Edwards, Jr., Appalachian State
RB Chris Evans, So., Samford
RB Dane Romero, Sr., Wofford
OL Jon Bieschke, Sr., Appalachian State
OL Brad Coley, Sr., Appalachian State
OL David Harrison, Jr., Elon
OL Joel Bell, Sr., Furman
OL Derek Wooten, Sr., Wofford
OL Dan DeHaven, Jr., The Citadel
TE Ben Jorden, Fr., Appalachian State
WR Andre Roberts, Jr., The Citadel
WR Terrell Hudgins, Jr., Elon
First Team Defense
DL Dakota Walker, Sr., Georgia Southern
DL Mitch Clark, Jr., Wofford
DL Jabari Fletcher, So., Appalachian State
DL Terrence Reese, Jr., The Citadel
LB Jacque Roman, Jr., Appalachian State
LB Chris Covington, Sr., Georgia Southern
LB Pierre Banks, Sr., Appalachian State
DB Cortez Gilbert, Jr., Appalachian State
DB Mark LeGree, So., Appalachian State
DB William Middleton, Sr., Furman
DB Thomas Twitty, Sr., Furman
DB Max Lerner, So., Furman


First Team Specialists
PK Andrew Wilcox, Sr., Elon
P Neil Young, Sr., Appalachian State
RS Andre Roberts, Jr., The Citadel