• Complete College Sporting News Fabulous Fifty All-American Team (PDF)
Five Ohio Valley Conference football players have been named to the 2012 College Sporting News Fabulous Fifty FCS All-America Team.
The All-American squad is comprised of one team of the 50 best student-athletes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision.
The selctions included Eastern Illinois redshirt junior wide receiver
Erik Lora, UT Martin senior wide receiver
Quentin Sims, Tennessee State sophomore tight end
A.C. Leonard, Murray State junior all-purpose player (wide receiver/return specialist)
Walter Powell and Tennessee State sophomore defensive back
Steven Godbolt III.
This marks the sixth first-team All-American selection of the year for Lora, who has also been named to the Associated Press, AFCA, Phil Steele, Sports Network and Walter Camp teams. Lora finished fourth in the Walter Payton Award balloting this year and earned OVC Offensive Player of the Year honors following his record setting season. Lora finished the year with 136 receptions which broke the previous FCS record of 123. He finished with 1,664 yards which is the fourth-highest single season total in FCS history. Along the way Lora set the school record for receptions and receiving yards in a game along with the OVC record for receptions in a game (21). Lora had seven games with double-figure receptions and two more with nine catches as he averaged 11.3 catches per game, the fourth-best single season average in FCS history. Lora opened the year with seven straight 100-yard receiving games, the most by an FCS receiver since 2000. He finished with nine 100-yard receiving games.
Sims, who played two years at UT Martin after transferring from Georgia Tech, capped his career by breaking the OVC record for touchdown catches in a season (16). In total Sims had 86 catches (sixth-most in OVC history) for 1,092 yards (10th-most in OVC history) and caught a touchdown pass in every game of the season, including three in the finale to help his team to an 8-3 overall record and share of the Sgt. York Championship. His 7.82 catches/game ranked sixth nationally while his 99.27 receiving yards/game was 12th. It marked the All-American team honor of the year for Sims, who was a third-team selection by the Sports Network.
Leonard earned his fifth All-American honor of the season as he was previously a first-team selection by the Sports Network and Walter Camp and a second-team pick by the Associated Press and Phil Steele. Leonard, in his first season with Tennessee State after transferring from Florida, caught 51 passes for 733 yards and six touchdowns in 10 games. The 733 yards were the most by a tight end at the FCS level this year and was the fourth most throughout all four divisions of college football (FBS, FCS, D-II and D-III).
Powell, who picked up his fourth All-American honors of the year, finished the season by ranking second in the FCS in all-purpose yards, averaging 193.0 yards/game. As a punt returner, Powell averaged 15.8 yards per return (fifth nationally), including touchdown returns of 70 and 100 yards (the 100-yard return set an FCS record). He also averaged 26.3 yards on 23 kickoff returns, which ranked 19th nationally. As a receiver, Powell set new school records for receptions and yards as he hauled in 94 catches (second-most in OVC history) for 1,213 yards (fourth-most in OVC history) and 10 touchdowns. He set a school record with six 100-yard receiving performances, and caught at least one touchdown in six of the final seven games. Powell had at least 200 all-purpose yards in six games, including amassing 302 all-purpose yards in the season finale against Southeast Missouri.
Godbolt earned his fourth All-American honor of the year after being a second-team Sports Network and Phil Steele All-American and third-team AP All-American earlier this off-season. He picked off six passes in 10 games to finish first nationally in interceptions per game (0.60). He had two separate streaks during the 2012 season of three consecutive games with an interception.
2012 College Sporting News All-American Selections From the OVC
WR - Erik Lora, Eastern Illinois
WR - Quentin Sims, UT Martin
TE - A.C. Leonard, Tennessee State
AP - Walter Powell, Murray State
DB - Steven Godbolt III, Tennessee State