MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Middle Tennessee football program held its annual end of the year team banquet on Saturday evening to honor its top performers and celebrate the 2007 accomplishments. The event was held on campus in the Alumni Gym and was emceed by radio color analyst Chip Walters.

Individually, 21 players received a plaque for earning a "winning performance" from the coaching staff during the 2007 season. A "winning performance" is achieved by grading out as a winner for at least seven games based on coaches evaluations. The players earning a "winning performance" on offense were: Dwight Dasher, Jacob Longoria, DeMarco McNair, Desmond Gee, Taron Henry, Patrick Honeycutt, Franklin Dunbar, Brandon Nix, Clinton Corder, and Mark Thompson. On defense the winners were: Wes Hofacker, Trevor Jenkins, Tavares Jones, Erik Walden, Bradley Robinson, Alex Suber, Danny Carmichael, and Jeremy Kellem while Adam Wade, David DeFatta, and Patrick Jackson picked up honors on special teams.

The four permanent captains, as voted on by the players, also received a plaque for attaining the highest honor for a Middle Tennessee football player. The recipients for 2007 were defensive end Tavares Jones, defensive end Erik Walden, running back DeMarco McNair, and defensive back Bradley Robinson.

"These are four guys who everyone on this team looks up to," said Stockstill. "They have provided leadership, courage, and dedication to the team and their peers and will be sorely missed. We have been honored to have them as leaders in our program."

Jim Rost from the Academic Enhancement Center presented the academic awards for 2007 which is given to the student-athlete who has achieved the highest level of academic success from each class. The senior winner was Clinton Corder (3.47 GPA), while Trevor Jenkins earned the junior award (3.08 GPA). Phillip Tanner was given the sophomore honor (3.38 GPA) and Mark Fisher brought home the freshman award (4.0 GPA). It marked the second year in a row for Jenkins and Tanner to earn academic recognition.

The final awards presented were from Strength and Conditioning Coach Russell Patterson. The Lifter of the Year, which shows the most overall gains from the beginning of the calendar year to date, went to junior defensive lineman Trevor Jenkins. The Dedication award, which is voted on by the players and given to someone who exhibited the best work ethic both in-season and off-season, was presented to DeMarco McNair (offense) and Tavares Jones (defense). The Power Hour award was given to walk-on Ben Graves. The Power Hour is a competition held in the fall between freshmen and redshirt freshmen. The players compete in numerous strong man lifting events and the winner is characterized by strength, endurance, and speed. Graves won by a mere seven points in the highly contested event.

Tavares Jones closed out the night with a few comments on the season as a representative of the senior class.

	Print this article
Share on Facebook