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Top performers/performances expected in 2001Some of the best players in black college football, specifically those in the two NCAA Div. I-AA conferences the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference are on a list of the top players in the division compiled by the Sports Network, a leading sports website that specializes in coverage of I-AA football (www.sportsnetwork.com).Five black college players were named to the site's first team preseason all-American squad and another five made it onto the second team. Eleven more were picked among the best at their positions in a series of articles running on the site by Tony Moss, Sports Network's director of I-AA football. At the top of the list is Southern wide receiver Michael Hayes, the sole black college player picked to the first team offense, and dubbed the "class" of this year's I-AA receivers. Hayes goes into the season projected as the best NFL prospect in
black college football and perhaps all of I-AA football, and a likely first round
draft pick. The speedy, six-foot, five-inch, wide out from Opelousas, La., is
a matchup prob lem for most defenses. Last season he caught touchdown
passes in all eleven Jaguar games, finishing with 15 on the season. He topped
the 100-yard mark five times and had three double-digit catch games. He
finished with 80 receptions for 1,328 yards, averaging over 16 yards per catch and
120 receiving yards per game. North Carolina A&T running back Maurice Hicks and Arkansas-Pine Bluff lineman Charles Ray were named to the second team offense. Hicks began slowly for the Aggies but came on late to make first team all-MEAC as a junior. He rushed for 1,487 yards, averaging seven yards per carry and tallied 15 touchdowns. Ray was the Golden Lions anchor on an offensive line that propelled both running backs, Dwight McKissick and Ron Johnson over the 1,000-yard rushing mark last season. Seven of the all-American selectees are on the defensive side of the ball. Alabama A&M defensive end Robert Mathis, Texas Southern linebacker Lernard Mack and Bethune-Cookman safety Rashean Mathis made the first team. Hampton lineman Greg Scott, Howard linebacker Tracy White and Grambling State defensive back Calvin Spears are second-teamers. Robert Mathis was the ringleader of a Bulldog defensive unit that ranked among the nation's best last year, giving up only 39.7 rushing yards per game, 35 yards better than the next team. Mathis, who will be a junior this year, had 14 sacks and 68 tackles in 2000. Mack, the SWAC's defensive player of the year, was the terror in the Tiger's tank. The Tigers were also among the national leaders in team defense and Mack's 114 total stops was one of the primary reasons. Rashean Mathis led all of I-AA in interceptions (11) while helping the Wildcats challenge for an MEAC title. The other first-teamer was Alabama State punter David Beckford, whose 44.2 average a year ago was tops in I-AA and among the top five underclassmen in the nation regardless of division. © 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.
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