FRISCO — Texas State senior quarterback Bradley George was named the Capital One Bank/Southland Conference Football Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced earlier this week in conjunction with the release of the All-Academic Football Team.

George, the Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Year, completed 63 percent (258-of-409) of his passes for 3,121 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2009. The graduate student from New Braunfels, was seven yards shy of the school’s single-season record for most passing yards, and ended his career as Texas State’s all-time career passing leader, having completed 753-of-1,277 passes (60 percent) for 9,556 yards and 91 touchdowns.

He threw for 300 yards six times and tied his own single-game record of 30 completions twice in 2009.

George graduated with a degree in industrial technology in 2008 and is a three-time member of the Southland Conference Football All-Academic Teams, with selection in 2006, 2008 and 2009. He is a four-time member of the Southland Commissioner’s Honor Roll between 2005-09 and a Texas State Oak Farms Dairy Academic Award winner in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009. As an undergraduate, George maintained a 3.12 grade-point average.

The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 12 member schools, voted for the student-athlete of the year. The Southland student-athlete of the year award is presented to the one student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.

In all, Texas State placed four student-athletes on the Capital One Bank/Southland Conference All-Academic team, including George. The teammates joined him on the teams include running back Jeff McVaney, defensive lineman Travis Houston and defensive back Will Thompson.

Northwestern State led the league with six selections on the All-Academic team, including running back Quinten Goodie, tight end Justin Aldredge, defensive lineman Scott Wattigny, linebacker Blake Delcambre and defensive backs Wesley Eckles and Phillip LeBlanc.

McNeese State also placed five on the All-Academic team, while Central Arkansas had four. Stephen F. Austin and Nicholls each placed two on the team, while Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana each had one.

There were 10 automatic selections to the All-Academic team. To be an automatic selection, a student-athlete must make at least one of the following teams: first-team All-Southland Conference, College Sports Information Directors of America/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI team or FCS Athletic Directors Association Academic All-Star Team.

Five student-athletes were named CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI selections, including Goodie, Aldredge and Wattigny, all from Northwestern State, as well as Sam Houston State offensive lineman Jordan Bowersox and Central Arkansas offensive lineman Austin Emerson. Aldredge, Bowersox, Stephen F. Austin defensive end Tim Knicky and Texas State defensive lineman Travis Houston were named FCS ADA Academic All-Stars on Friday.

Three others — McNeese State quarterback Derrick Fourroux, McNeese State defensive end Desmund Lighten and Nicholls punter Patrick Dolan — joined the group as automatic selections by virtue of being named first-team All-Southland Conference. There were a total of five all-conference selections on the All-Academic teams.

George, Knicky and Houston made the All-Academic team for the third time, while two-time honorees include Goodie, Bowersox, Delcambre, Eckles, Thompson, Dolan and Central Arkansas offensive lineman Casey Thurber.

The All-Academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators from each Southland Conference university.

Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.



Final TSN national poll

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The top 25 teams in final The Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, final 2009 records, points and previous ranking:

Team Record Pts Pvs

1. Villanova (101) 14-1 2,525 2

2. Montana 14-1 2,415 3

3. Appalachian State 11-3 2,385 5

4. William & Mary 11-3 2,225 6

5. Richmond 11-2 2,092 4

6. Southern Illinois 11-2 2,037 1

7. New Hampshire 10-3 1,815 10

8. South Carolina State 10-2 1,685 7

9. Elon 9-3 1,672 9

10. Stephen F. Austin 10-3 1,577 12

11. South Dakota State 8-4 1,431 11

12. McNeese State 9-3 1,391 8

13. Eastern Washington 8-4 1,150 13

14. Holy Cross 9-3 1,111 17

15. Prairie View A&M; 9-1 976 18

16. Jacksonville State 8-3 931 14

17. Weber State 7-5 914 15

18. Northern Iowa 7-4 854 16

19. Eastern Illinois 8-4 736 19

20. Penn 8-2 590 21

21. Colgate 9-2 524 20

22. Liberty 8-3 482 22

23. Florida A&M; 8-3 366 23

24. Lafayette 8-3 223 24

25. Texas State 7-4 155 25

Others receiving votes: James Madison 129, Montana State 112, Delaware 89, Harvard 64, Butler 49, Eastern Kentucky 34, Central Connecticut State 29, UC Davis 28, Furman 26, Illinois State 24, Northern Arizona 21, Grambling 11, Youngstown State 8, Norfolk State 7, Stony Brook 4, Alabama A&M; 3, Old Dominion 3, Central Arkansas 2, Chattanooga 1.