Quote:Appalachian State, Arkansas State and Troy are projected as the clear frontrunners in the Sun Belt this year, and these three teams comprise a huge part of the 2017 All-Sun Belt team. The Mountaineers lead the way with 16 selections, while the Trojans and Red Wolves are tied with 13 apiece. South Alabama checks in third with 12 picks, and FBS newcomer Coastal Carolina features five selections on the 2017 All-Sun Belt team.

Link

First Team Offense:

QB- Brandon Silvers - Troy
RB - Jalin Moore - App State
RB - Larry Rose III - NMSU
All-Purpose - Jordan Chunn - Troy
WR - Penny Hart - GSU
WR - Emanuel Thompson - Troy
TE - Blake Mack - stAte
C - Aaron Brewer - TX State
OL - Jordan Rose - Idaho
OL - Victor Johnson - App State
OL - Beau Nunn - App State
OL - Colby Gossett - App State

First Team Defense:

DL - Aikeem Coleman - Idaho
DL - Joe Dillon - Louisiana
DL - Tee Sims - App State
DL - Ja'Von Rolland-Jones - stAte
LB - Eric Boggs - App State
LB - Bryan London - TX State
LB - Kyle Wilson - stAte
CB - Clifton Duck - App State
CB - Latrell Gibbs* - App State
S - Justin Clifton - stAte
S - Jeremy Reaves - USA

Specialists:

K - Stevie Artigue - Louisiana
P - Payton Theisler - NMSU
KR - Jabir Frye - Troy
PR - Blaise Taylor - stAte

*The article says Latrell Gibbs has an asterisk because he is not returning in 2017. This is actually not necessarily true. But I think most App fans have tempered expectations even if Latrell does return to the team, so it's probably unfair to have him on the 1st team. With that said, 2nd team CBs are:

Chandon Sullivan - GSU
and
Kamryn Melton - Troy

Weird to see us not have someone on first team offense.

(05-25-2017 08:45 PM)eaglewraith Wrote:  Weird to see us not have someone on first team offense.

I thought the same thing. GS is 4th in total offensive players represented in the 4 teams, however. Fields, Ramsby, and Culbreth on 3rd team and Rainey and Northrup on 4th team.

So is Gibbs playing or not? Up in the air still?

Also, what does Chunn do besides run? I don't see where he's registered any receiving or special teams stats.

(05-25-2017 09:21 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  So is Gibbs playing or not? Up in the air still?

Up in the air. From our guy firemoose on Yosef's Cabin:

Quote:Wish I could say more. I will say this. Last report (mid spring) was he was coming back for Summer 1. It starts next week and he's not listed on the .edu site. If he doesn't come for S1 he has two more chances before season (S2 and Fall) to come back and start classes again. Guess we'll know officially once camp starts. To put it simply, it's not a given that if he comes back he's just going to walk in and take over the spot opposite Duck. He hasn't played in over a year and in addition to Hayes and Pinckney, who have both been in the system for a while, we have guys that were shirted last year that have been making some big noise, both on scout team last season and in spring ball. I know full well what he did when he was here but I also know what I'm hearing and if he comes back he's got work to do. He will not be given the starters spot just for coming back.

No Troy players on 1st team defense despite being ranked 21st statistically...

http://www.cfbstats.com/2016/leader/nati...ort01.html

While it's always nice to have special players who get recognized it really says something about a team when you perform at a high level but don't have any standouts. That workmanlike approach wins championships.

(05-26-2017 07:34 AM)Georgia_Power_Company Wrote:  While it's always nice to have special players who get recognized it really says something about a team when you perform at a high level but don't have any standouts. That workmanlike approach wins championships.

That sounds nice, but I'd love to see an example of a conference championship team that wasn't in the top three for all-conference players.

(05-26-2017 07:34 AM)Georgia_Power_Company Wrote:  While it's always nice to have special players who get recognized it really says something about a team when you perform at a high level but don't have any standouts. That workmanlike approach wins championships.

Exactly what I was going to say. This was the case for the App State defense on 2016 preseason all-conference teams. Troy is in a similar situation in 2017. Lost their best defensive player off of the DL (Blair for App in 2016, Dillard for Troy in 2017), but return most of the rest of one of the top units in the conference.

Last year App State only had Boggs and Law on the first team preseason, with nobody on the second team defense. But postseason we had Mondo and Duck first team and Reed, Sims, Boggs, and Gilchrist 2nd team.

(05-26-2017 08:27 AM)Saint3333 Wrote:  

(05-26-2017 07:34 AM)Georgia_Power_Company Wrote:  While it's always nice to have special players who get recognized it really says something about a team when you perform at a high level but don't have any standouts. That workmanlike approach wins championships.

That sounds nice, but I'd love to see an example of a conference championship team that wasn't in the top three for all-conference players.

Oh I'm sure any conference champion will have several all-conference types but I guess I'm pulling from my experience following GS where it seemed we would never place many on all conference teams in spite of winning or challenging for championships.

Wow ......... Looks like Southern is a strong underdog for the 2017 season. Excited to see what the new offense brings for Fields and Ramsey!

One may think our defense is garbage by looking at these pre season awards!

Remember when Georgia State's offense was, "Just give the ball to Donald Russell and pray..."?

And then a little later, when Georgia State's offense was, "Just give the ball to Albert Wilson and pray..."?

I'm hoping we don't have a Penny Hart version of that this year.

Thank the gods for Ari Werts.

(05-26-2017 08:54 AM)Pounce FTW Wrote:  Remember when Georgia State's offense was, "Just give the ball to Donald Russell and pray..."?

And then a little later, when Georgia State's offense was, "Just give the ball to Albert Wilson and pray..."?

I'm hoping we don't have a Penny Hart version of that this year.

Thank the gods for Ari Werts.

If Manning is still a statue that can't hit a barn and Winchester is still a RB attempting to play QB, then ya'll are going to have problems.