18 Rangers named to all-North Division football team

SENATOBIA – A stellar year for the #4 Northwest Mississippi Community College football team continued on Wednesday with the release of the All-MACCC North Division awards and Northwest was a common sight among the recipients with 18 players earning a spot on the list along with Jalen Thomas picking up the Defensive Player of the Year honor.

Thomas also was named to the First Team All-MACCC North Division and was a force to be reckoned with on the defensive line as the sophomore nose tackle from Memphis, Tennessee accounted for 18 total tackles and 2.5 tackles for a loss. He added a half sack and had a hit on the quarterback.

His best game came in the come-from-behind win over Northeast Mississippi Community College where he had five tackles, but he was a steady rock in every game as a multi-gap nose tackle that allowed for linebackers and blitzers to have open lanes to the back field, helping the defense to the top spot in the nation in terms of rushing yards allowed, only giving up 50.4 yards per game this season while totaling 33 sacks to go with it.

Thomas was one of five defenders who earned first team nods and was joined by fellow nose tackle T.J. Spann, linebacker Jerry Wall III, and defensive backs Dre Riley and Jakwon Morris.

Wall had some of the most impressive tackling numbers on the team this season, finishing just three shy of Rase Jones for the team lead with 51, including 26 solo tackles and had 4.5 sacks on his way to six tackles for loss. He was a three-position player for the Rangers, spending time as an extra blitzer on the line, and playing as an extra defensive back. He had three pass breakups on the year and also had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Morris was also a team leader in solo tackles with 25 on the season which was fourth on the roster. He was known as a lockdown corner for the Rangers and had seven pass breakups as a result and picked up a fumble recovery too. Morris was aggressive and he used that to total 2.5 tackles for a loss when he would come up to help defend the run.

Riley wasn’t far behind Morris in the solo tackles category. The hard-hitting safety for the Rangers finished with 38 tackles on the year with 23 of the as solo tackles and was key in making sure that the second level was where running backs were stopped when they broke through, making several touchdown saving tackles during the Rangers postseason run to a MACCC championship. He also picked up three tackles for a loss and had a fumble recovery on the year.

Closing out the first team on defense was Spann, who much like Thomas was a two-gap nose tackle for the Rangers, finishing the year with 25 tackles and seven solo’s he registered one sack on the season on the way to 1.5 TFL’s, and added a rare pass breakup for a defensive lineman.

Northwest also fared very well on the offensive side of the ball, getting four first team awards, powered by the offensive line where Jordan Knox and Reginhard Pierre-Nau led the way. Joining them were tight end Reed Jesiolowski and wide receiver Keon Hutchins.

Hutchins was an eye turner for the Rangers as a receiver this season, having his breakout performance against Southwest Mississippi where he had 219 yards and three touchdowns in the first half on five receptions. The sophomore from Union had six games where he totaled more than 50 yards, including the MACCC championship and finished the year with 635 yards and six touchdowns on 34 receptions.

Jesiolowski was also big for Northwest this season, seeing his opportunities really grow as the year went on. He finished the season with 348 yards and four touchdowns and was a fourth weapon in the passing game to take pressure off of the receivers as a mismatch in the middle of the field. His biggest game came in a win or go home showing against Itawamba Community College where he had 79 yards and the opening touchdown for Northwest to help them earn a spot in the postseason.

The Rangers final first team award went to the special teams where Hayden Wolfe took home the honor. The sophomore kicker and punter was a reliable option for them all season long, finishing the year going 12-17 in kicks with a long of 51 yards on his only attempt from 50-plus all season long. He was 8-10 from kicks inside of 39 yards and went 4-7 on kicks from beyond 40.

Kicking and punting were also strong suites for the Ranger from Clinton, who finished with 42 punts, placing 20 of them inside of the 20-yard line and only having five touch-backs. He averaged 38.74 yards per punt and had a long of 61 yards and two that were above 50 yards on the season. Kickoffs were also a strong suite, where none of them were returned for touchdowns and ten of them were touch-backs, averaging 60.8 yards per kickoff.

Northwest saw another six players added to the All-MACCC North Division second team, with four from the offense including quarterback Neko Fann, running back Julius Pope, and offensive lineman Amari Smith and Tanner Welch. Defensively they also added linebacker Elliot Helps and defensive back Marion Keyes.

Fann ended up winning the quarterback battle for the Rangers midway through the season and finished the year with 2061 yards throwing the ball with 20 touchdowns and four interceptions, completing nearly 65 percent of his passes and averaging 187 yards per game. He had a quarterback rating of 157 on the year to go with it, throwing for three or more touchdowns four times including a three-touchdown game against Copiah-Lincoln Community College in the MACCC semifinals.

Also with a passing touchdown in that semifinal game was Pope, who threw for his only touchdown of the year in that game. Pope, who won NJCAA Offensive Player of the Week after that game, finished the season with 729 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 6.1 yards per carry on 120 attempts. He also was the fourth leading receiver on the team during the season with 355 yards in the air and three touchdowns on 32 receptions.

On the defensive side, Keyes was another do-it-all player for the Rangers. He was third on the team in tackles with 46 and was second in solo tackles with 29 as a defensive back. He added an interception in the MACCC championship game and had three pass breakups to close out the season.

Helps was one of the steadier players the Rangers had on the year, finishing the season with 38 tackles but his biggest moments came in pass defense, with two interceptions to lead the team in that category, both of which came at crucial moments in the postseason. He added a forced fumble and a fumble recovery and had six tackles for a loss during the season.

The Northwest defense added two more names as honorable mentions to the MACCC North Division list with Charles Woodard and Christ Thomas rounding out the 18 players to make the teams.

Woodard presented a consistent threat as an edge rusher for the Rangers, and it showed with 3.5 sacks on the year and 6.5 TFL’s. he added 11 solo tackles on his way to 25 total during the year.

Behind him in position but ahead of him in tackles was Thomas, who had 39 tackles on the season as a linebacker for Northwest, including 18 solo take downs. Thomas was also big in the fumble game, forcing one and recovering two on the season.