Football team caps off 2015 season with annual awards dinner
Four seniors were announced as the permanent football team captains to put the finishing touches on the 2015 Golden Eagle season, and team award winners were recognized at Tennessee Tech's annual Football Awards Dinner Sunday afternoon. The team also celebrated its departing Senior Class.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Four seniors were announced as the permanent football team captains to put the finishing touches on the 2015 Golden Eagle season, and team award winners were recognized at Tennessee Tech's annual Football Awards Dinner Sunday afternoon. The team also celebrated its departing Senior Class.
Senior safety Stephen Bush from Cookeville, Tenn., senior linebackers Tra’Darius Goff from Columbia, Tenn., and Jay Rudwall from Ooltewah, Tenn., and senior offensive lineman Jibrin Linge from Marietta, Ga., were introduced as permanent captains of the 2015 season.
The top honor of the day was the announcement of sophomore Brock McCoin as winner of the 62nd annual Robert Hill Johnson Award. McCoin was among the nation’s leaders as a wide receiver through the first seven games of the season, then finished the year as Tech’s starting quarterback. He finished the year with 61 catches for 747 yards and four touchdowns, numbers that rank near the best in school history.
He passed on the chance to break school records in receiving when he made the switch to quarterback, and guided the Golden Eagles to wins in the final two contests of the year. In four games as signal-caller, McCoin built a 146.42 efficiency rating, going 27-for-51 for 458 yards and four touchdowns with just two interceptions.
The Robert Hill Johnson Award was established in 1952, and is considered the most prestigious award presented to a Golden Eagle player each year.
The versatile McCoin added the Most Valuable Offensive Player award to his resume after earning second-team all-OVC honors. In addition to his receiving and passing numbers, he rushed for 271 yards on 69 carries, ranking second on the team. For the year, McCoin was second on the team in all-purpose yards with 1,018 and third in total offense with 729 yards.
For the second straight year, the Most Valuable Offensive Back award was presented to Ladarius Vanlier, a senior from Nashville. Vanlier led the team in rushing with 754 yards and six touchdowns on 133 carries, posting a team-best 5.7 yards per carry average. He caught 18 passes for another 174 yards and one touchdown.
Also a return specialist, Vanlier received the Most Valuable Special Team Player award. In addition to his offensive output, Vanlier averaged 25.8 yards on 25 kickoff returns while setting the school record for career kick return yards, and also provided 4.5 yards per punt return despite team’s continually kicking away from the speedster. He was named second-team all-OVC. Altogether, Vanlier accounted for 1,623 all-purpose yards, an average of 147.5 yards per game.
Goff captured two of the team’s top awards at the dinner, taking home the Most Valuable Defensive Player award and the Most Valuable Linebacker honor. Returning from a medical redshirt season in 2014, Goff led the OVC and ranked among national leaders with 132 total tackles. He had seven tackles-for-loss and two sacks, forced a fumble, blocked a kick and was named OVC Defensive Player of the Week and first-team all-OVC.
The team's Academic Award went to two players as senior placekicker Chris Harris from Columbia, Tenn., and redshirt freshman Josh Poplar from Knoxville, Tenn., shared the honor.
A pair of brothers from Hendersonville, Tenn., received two of the team awards chosen for their quiet contributions to the team. Defensive end Zach Malone, a junior civil engineering major, won the Unsung Hero Award, while Cory Malone, a junior majoring in EXPW/pre-occupational therapy, accepted the Tech Pride Award.
The Sonny Allen Team Leadership Award, as well as the Bill Dupes Inspiration Award, went to Bush, who made the moved to safety after four years as a runningback. Bush posted 49 total tackles and led the team and ranked first in the OVC with three fumbles caused. Bush won the Tech Athletics Dept. Unsung Leader Award for the month of December.
The Tony Stone Bumble Bee DB Award was presented to Maleek Hall, a junior mass communications major from Clarksville, Tenn., who earned second-team all-OVC selection. Hall led the OVC with 17 pass breakups and also registered 64 total tackles to rank fourth on the squad.
Three additional MVP Awards were presented to position players.
In the trenches the Golden Eagles had repeat winners on both sides of scrimmage. Jibrin Linge was named the Most Valuable Offensive Lineman while Kevin Robinson-White took home the Most Valuable Defensive Lineman awards. Linge, a senior business major, made 42 consecutive starts while filling assignments at center, guard and tackle. Robinson-White, a junior from Cincinnati, finished the year with 35 tackles, 4.5 tackles-for-loss, one forced fumble and five quarterback hurries.
The Most Valuable Receiver honor went to Krys Cates, a junior computer engineering major who returned to action following a medical redshirt season and ranked second on the team with 24 catches for 525 yards with a team-best six touchdowns.
The final activity at the dinner was recognition of the team's senior players, many of them joined by their parents and family members. The seniors were:
RB Radir Annoor
SS Stephen Bush
OL Brett Dillard
DB Demario Donnell
LB Tra’Darius Goff
PK Chris Harris
OL Justin Ivory
DB Jimmy Laughlin
OL Jibrin Linge
OL Blake Luevano
DE Jordan Patrick
LB Jay Rudwall
WR Joshua Smith
RB Adam Spence
RB Ladarius Vanlier
WR Steve Wilson
