Pittsburg, Kan.----Wingate University redshirt junior return specialist
Perry Floyd (Gastonia, N.C.) has been named to the 2009 NCAA Division II All-American second team by Don Hansen’s Football Gazette, officials announced today. In January, Floyd was named to the All-Super Region 2 first team by the same publication.
“Perry Floyd has developed into our go-to guy on special teams,” Wingate head coach
Joe Reich says. “When we are looking for a big play…he’s the guy. His patience and hard work have paid dividends for our program. Perry is a pivotal member of our team, both on offense and on special teams.”
A first team All-South Atlantic Conference performer as a return specialist, Floyd averaged 30.4 yards per kick return and 15.1 yards per punt return this season. He led the league in both categories. The Forestview High School product was third on the NCAA Division II charts in kick returns and ninth in punt returns.
Floyd contributed 289 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns (one kick return and two receiving) at Lenoir-Rhyne University on Oct. 10, 2009. Thanks to Floyd’s heroics, the Bulldogs posted a 50-49 come-from-behind victory over the LRU Bears. Floyd finished the year with 1,105 all-purpose yards. As a receiver, he had 32 receptions for 389 yards.
The 2009 season marks the 22nd year Don Hansen’s Football Gazette has selected an NCAA Division II All-America team. A recognized authority on small college football, the national publication selected All-Region teams with the first team and second team All-Region players from each of the four geographic regions (Super Region One – former Northeast; Super Region Two – former Southeast; Super Region Three – former Northwest; Super Region Four - former Southwest) comprising the national ballot. A select national panel voted on the ballot.
A total of 157 players earned some form of Football Gazette All-America honors. Players from 83 of the 150 football-playing schools in Division II earned Football Gazette All-America accolades. National champion Northwest Missouri State and national quarter-finalist West Liberty State led the way by placing seven players each on All-American squad, while national semi-finalist California (Pa.) had six honorees.
Harlon Hill Trophy winner
Joique Bell of Wayne State (Mich.) and Gene Upshaw Award winner
Ben Staggs of West Liberty State (W.Va.) headline the talented Don Hansen’s Football Gazette All-America team. The Division II National Player of the Year, Bell earned Offensive Back of the Year honors. Staggs garnered Offensive Lineman of the Year accolades.
Jake Soy of Northwest Missouri State was named the Receiver of the Year, while
Jack Hiett of Nebraska-Kearney received the seventh annual NCAA Division II Rimington Award as the division’s top offensive center.
The Boomer Esiason Foundation established the Dave Rimington Trophy in 2000 to honor the outstanding NCAA BCS center. The foundation expanded that award in 2003 to include the top center on each of the Don Hansen’s Football Gazette NCAA FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA All-America squads.
The Rimington Trophy web site is located at www.rimingtontrophy.com. Esiason and Rimington were NFL teammates at Cincinnati in the mid-1980s after successful college careers at Maryland and Nebraska, respectively. In 1993, Esiason created the New York City-based foundation that bears his name to raise funds for the treatment and research for cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease his son Gunnar has battled since infancy.
On defense,
Drew Berube of Hillsdale claimed Lineman of the Year honors, while
Mike Johnson of North Alabama earned Linebacker of the Year.
Quintez Smith of Shaw earned Defensive Back of the Year. Punter
Justin Hinson of UNC Pembroke and return specialist
Jerome Hewitt of Southeastern Oklahoma shared the Specialist of the Year award.
Northwest Missouri State’s
Mel Tjeerdsma earned National Coach of the Year honors for the second time in as many seasons. He led the Bearcats to their fifth straight appearance in the NCAA Division II National Championship game and the school’s third national championship. Tjeerdsma shared the honors with Minnesota Duluth’s
Bob Nielson in 2008.
A senior from Detroit, Bell rushed for 2,084 yards and 29 touchdowns to capture the Harlon Hill Trophy as the national player of the year. He led Division II in rushing (189.5 yards per game), all-purpose yards (217.5 yards per game) and scoring (17.5 points per game) on the season.
FOR MORE INFORMATION please contact Football Gazette National Coordinator
Dan Wilkes, Asst. AD/Media Relations at Pittsburg State University, at 620-235-4147 (dwilkes@pittstate.edu).
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.
Wingate offers more than 40 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education, fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.
Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past three years.
Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 34 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 43 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.