Season Preview 23 and also earned First Team All-District, All-Area, All-City, and All-State honors. Ali recorded 96 tackles with three sacks and one interception and also had three fumble recoveries and returned one for a touchdown. Ali produced nine rushing touchdowns on offense and one kickoff return for a touchdown. Dansby on the other hand redshirted last season after playing in seven games as a true freshman for the Racers finishing with 15 tackles and one interception. Dansby had a season-best six tackles against Eastern Illinois and recorded his pick versus Austin Peay. As a high senior at Lancaster Christian Academy, Dansby racked up 100 tackles, five forced fumbles, ten sacks, four interceptions and eight pass break-ups. He showed his versatility by catching 40 passes for 915 yards and 14 touchdowns to go along with 830 rushing yards on 35 carries for ten touchdowns. Dansby was a team captain and named team MVP. Dansby was named an All-State performer twice and All-Region three times. Defensive backs: Carson-Newman’s defensive backfield is arguably the deepest section of the Eagles’ defense. Led by preseason All-American Eien Jacob at one corner and preseason first team All-SAC selection Dante Thomas at the other, the Eagles seem stout even with the loss of Anthony Baskin at safety after his signing with the Indianapolis Colts and Jarrett East-Brown. The Eagles also return Sean Rawson, who has earned allconference accolades in his career, Emmanuel Orange and Jerry Miclisse. Jacob was second in the SAC with his five picks last year. With his two interceptions against Newberry (11/9), Jacob became the first Eagle with a multipick game since Oliver Davis had a pair against Tusculum in 2010. He finished the regular season with a career best seven-tackle day against Wingate (11/16). Thomas started in 12 of 13 games and was fifth on the team with 52 tackles. He also picked off two passes and broke up eight others. Thomas was responsible for two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble. He tallied a season best eight tackles against both Mars Hill (10/5) and Wingate (11/16); he had six tackles - five of which were solo stops - against Colorado Mines (9/14). Rawson, Orange and Miclisse had 45, 22 and 19 tackles, respectively. Miclisse has an interception return for a touchdown to his name. Kickers: Carson-Newman must recover from the loss of Curt Duncan at placekicker after the 2012 All-American wrapped his C-N career ranked second for field goals, extra points and points scored by a kicker in Eagle history. Duncan also holds the top two single season marks for field goals and points by a kicker. The lead candidate to replace his leg is none other than his cousin Ben Ogle. Ogle has one varsity field goal in his career, however, he came a point from tying Duncan’s single game school record of 17 points by a kicker in a junior varsity game against University of the Cumberlands. Ogle had a 50-yard field goal in that game. Punter: The Eagles must also find a new starting punter with Duncan’s departure, fortunately they have two men with starting experience. Charlie Rhea punted his way to all-conference honors in 2011 before tearing his ACL in game two of 2012. Nick Tankersly earned preseason all-conference honors in 2013 after his 2012 season in place of Rhea before being ruled academically ineligible. They’ll battle it out for starting duties. Rhea averaged 38.3 yards per punt in his career while Tankersly comes in at 39.0 yards per punt. Returners: Carson-Newman’s kick return game should be strong with TraShaun Ward and Marcellas Pope fielding kickoffs and punts. Ward holds the top two single season kickoff return yardage marks and stands poised to take the career record for kickoff return yards should he equal his totals from his freshman and sophomore seasons. Ward’s longest kick return was an 81-yarder against Catawba and helped push him to 705 yards for the season. Pope tallied 200 kickoff return yards, including a 53-yard return against Brevard. Jacob looks to improve on a five INT year as a sophomore
Carson-Newman Online 2014 Football Media Guide
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