2020 SMDR Male Athlete of the Year: Nijal Pearson

This article is a part of the 2020 SMDR Year in Review series.

Heading into his final season at Texas State, Nijal Pearson needed 363 points to cement his place in Bobcat history.

The Beaumont native ended the 2019-20 season with 601, surpassing both Travis Cornett (1970-74) and Charles Sharp (1956-60) to become the maroon and gold’s all-time leading scorer with 2,122 career points.

Pearson’s career-high 19.4 points per game in his senior year led Texas State to its third 20-win season in the past four years. The Bobcats earned the No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt tournament and looked like a true contender to win it after knocking off No. 6-seeded Appalachian State in the second round on March 11, 85-68.

The ending of the guard’s collegiate career will always feel incomplete, as COVID-19 caused the season to shut down the next day. He went on to sign with Chorale Roanne to play professionally in the top-tier French league, LNB Pro A. But Pearson will always be lauded as one of the best players to ever come through Texas State, a two-time All-Sun Belt First Team selection and the 2020 Sun Belt Player of the Year.

The final chapter of Pearson’s time in San Marcos makes him the 2020 SMDR Male Athlete of the Year.

Honorable Mentions:

Texas State Football’s Marcell Barbee and Jeremiah Haydel

Barbee and Haydel helped revamp a Bobcat offense that increased its scoring average from 18.42 points per game in 2019 to 27.64 in 2020.

Barbee was a key addition for the maroon and gold, becoming the Texas State quarterbacks’ favorite target near the goal line. The transfer from Iowa Western Community College finished the year with 40 receptions for a team-high 584 yards and 10 touchdowns — the seventh-most receiving scores in the FBS — and was named to the All-Sun Belt Third Team.

Haydel enjoyed a career year in his senior season, catching 40 passes for 408 yards and three touchdowns. He also proved to be a home run threat on special teams, returning both a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns this season and finishing the year with 674 kickoff return yards, the third-highest mark in the nation. Haydel was named to the all-conference Second Team as both a a return specialist and all-purpose player

Texas State Baseball’s Wesley Faison

Faison’s bat caught fire after he was promoted to the Bobcats’ designated hitter spot full-time. The Richmond native paced the team with a .352 batting average, .704 slugging percentage,.455 on-base percentage, 15 RBIs and six home runs.

Faison also posted a flawless fielding percentage while playing third base with 21 putouts and one assist, helping Texas State to a 14-4 regular season record.

San Marcos Boys’ Soccer’s Melvin Molina

No one struck fear in the hearts of District 26-6A defenders more than Molina. The junior put up multiple hat tricks throughout the year, leading the league with 32 goals while also dishing out 15 assists.

Molina was named the district’s Co-Forward of the Year, along with Schertz Clemens senior Jorge Ugaz, and selected to the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches (TASCO) All-Region Second Team.

San Marcos Football’s Kannon Webb

Webb was a featured player for the Rattlers in 2020, lighting teams up on both sides of the ball.

The senior racked up 594 yards and six touchdowns from scrimmage while also completing 2-of-3 passes for 30 yards and another score. On defense, Webb broke the schools’ all-time tackling record and led the team with 92 stops while also breaking up five passes and intercepting three.