Feb. 25, 2009
San Marcos, Texas - GALLERY
The Texas State football program held its annual football awards banquet on Saturday, Feb. 21, to honor its top performers and celebrate its 2008 historic season at the LBJ Student Center Ballroom.
Among the highlights celebrated were the Bobcats finishing the season ranked No. 22 nationally by The Sports Network and No. 23 by the FCS Coaches Association after winning their first outright conference championship since 1983 and earning a berth to the NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs for the second time in the last four years.
Texas State finished the 2008 season with an 8-5 overall record and set a school record for most road wins with five. The Bobcats also won the Southland Conference championship with a 5-2 record after tying for the 2005 SLC title. Texas State bolstered an offense that produced a 2,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard receiver and a 1,000-yard rusher for the second straight year.
The individual awards presented included SLC Players of the Week certificates for Cameron Luke, Courtney Smith, Bradley George and Karrington Bush.
The First-Team All-Southland Conference players were running back Karrington Bush, fullback Blake Burton, wide receiver Cameron Luke and offensive lineman Jeff Bowen. All-SLC Second-Team performers included offensive lineman D.J. Hall, placekicker Andrew Ireland, defensive lineman Donavan King, defensive back Morris Crosby and return specialist Karrington Bush. In addition, quarterback Bradley George, tight end John Gilley, defensive end Travis Houston, linebackers Joe Bell and Courtney Smith along with safety Kenneth Hampton received All-SLC Honorable Mention recognition.
Cameron Luke was named a Third-Team All-American by The Sports Network, the Associated Press and the College Sporting News Fabulous 50 All-America Team. Karrington Bush, Andrew Ireland and Jeff Bowen were named Honorable Mention All-Americans by The Sports Network.
Junior defensive end Travis Houston was named an Academic All-Star by the FCS Athletics Directors Association and one of four Bobcats named to the 2008 Capital One Southland Conference All-Academic Football Team. The other three players were Bradley George, Blake Burton and Will Thompson.
Steven Alvarez, Darius Bolden, Willie Bolvin, Blake Burton, Adley Eshraghipour, John Ford, Alvaro Garcia, Rufino Gutierrez, Taylor Haese, Trey Hampton, Tim Hawkins, Corey Hickerson, Travis Houston, Andrew Ireland, Donavan King, Sean Leffingwell, Jeff McVaney, Freddy Paige, Brian Quackenbush, Trey Raucheck, Michael Rutledge, Matt Schumann, Paul Sienkiewicz, Adrian Thomas, Will Thomas, Jonathan Ward and Jamal Williams were named to the Capital One Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll.
The 2008 team captains were Bradley George, John Gilley, Morris Crosby and Donavan King. Each of them were selected by their teammates at the beginning of the season and served as captains throughout the season.
Luke was named the Offensive Most Valuable Player, while King was the Defensive MVP and Bush was the Special Teams MVP.
The Outstanding Freshman of the Year was Mishak Rivas. Bowen received the John O'Hara Memorial Outstanding Offensive Lineman award.
John Gilley was the recipient of the Jim Wacker "Unbelievable" Award, which goes to the player who displays motivational, inspirational and leadership skills and is named after Texas State's former head coach and athletic director.
The final award of the evening was the J.C. Kellam Award, which goes to the outstanding senior player, and this year's recipient was senior running back Stan Zwinggi.
The evening concluded with the introduction of this season's senior class that includes: Bowen, Burton, Crosby, Wellington Deshield, Gilley, Corey Hickerson, Ireland, King, Luke, Freddy Paige, Ray Parker, Brian Quackenbush, Rutledge, Jonathan Ruzicka, Courtney Smith, Thomas, Clint Toon, Jamal Williams and Zwinggi.
