ODAC Honors Francis
BC Senior Tackle Is Defensive POY
Posted: November 21, 2012
HARRISONBURG – The Harrisonburg area has no playoff-bound college football teams, but it’s not the defenses’ fault.
The day after James Madison junior linebacker Stephon Robertson was named the Colonial Athletic Association’s top defensive player, Bridgewater College senior defensive tackle Joel Francis was given the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award Tuesday.
Not coincidentally, both BC and JMU had perhaps their leagues’ top defenses.
Statistically, the Eagles’ “D” was undisputedly the best, allowing the fewest points per game (17.6) by nearly a touchdown, with Division III playoff-bound Washington & Lee second at 24.4. BC also was way ahead of the conference in total defense (309.8 yards per game, with Shenandoah’s 350.1 second) and rushing defense (128.2 ypg to second-best Shenandoah’s 147.7).
JMU’s defense wasn’t quite as dominant within its league, but it still was stout. Madison was the only Colonial Athletic Association team to rank in the top two in both scoring defense (21 ppg, second) and total defense (323.3 ypg, second). The Dukes also dominated opposing ground games, limiting them to a league-best 122.5 yards per game (ahead of Delaware’s 134.2).
Madison returned seven starters from the 2011 defense that led the conference in both scoring defense and total defense, so its success wasn’t surprising. The Eagles’ defensive success was less expected.
BC graduated seven starters from last year’s team that went 6-4, giving up 26.9 points and 362.9 yards per game. Yet, even with a brand-new secondary, the Eagles yielded 9.3 fewer points and 53.1 fewer yards per contest this season.
“When you get new [recruiting] years, they might listen a little bit better,” seventh-year BC defensive coordinator Jack Johnson said, noting that last year’s defense was very good despite more bloated statistics. “Sometimes when you coach older guys, they’ve heard it already, they have a good understanding, and to some extent might tune you out a little bit because they think they know already. The young guys tend to hang on every word.”
The older guys helped, too – particularly Francis.
The 6-foot, 235-pound senior, who doubled as BC’s student-body president this year, is the ODAC’s only defensive lineman who finished in the top five in tackles for loss (he had 12.5, third) and the top 10 in sacks (4.5, tied for sixth). He led the Eagles in both those categories, while also finishing third with 55 tackles.
Nevertheless …
“This is a complete surprise,” said Francis, whose only other All-ODAC award was an honorable-mention selection as a sophomore. “…I was floored by the news.”
Francis was joined on the first team by senior defensive tackle Danny Grogg, junior linebacker Andrew Palmer and sophomore safety Darrick Gore. Grogg and Francis made a particularly tough tandem inside, as one was usually double-teamed with the other getting blocked one-on-one.
“We were able to stop the run with six in the box a lot of times, which is rare,” Johnson said. “You’re a man down with six, but with Joel and Danny, they gave you that extra-man advantage when they were next to each other.”
Like Madison’s, the Eagles’ offense was only OK and probably held them back from a playoff berth. (BC went 7-3 overall, 4-3 in the ODAC – two games behind W&L). But that was more expected from the Eagles, who were picked to finish fourth in the ODAC’s preseason poll and haven’t made the playoffs since 2005. BC coach Michael Clark had openly called this season one of rebuilding in which he hoped the Eagles would take a step back toward their dominance of the conference that included five straight league titles from 2001-05.
The defense, though, rebuilt more quickly than expected.
“I think we were an improved football team, and it started with defensive improvement,” Clark said.
BC’s new secondary – whose only starting freshman, Daniel Brent, made third-team all-conference at corner – gave up a league-best 181.6 yards per game, 18.1 yards ahead of the rest of the ODAC.
“They grew up fast, and they really didn’t have a choice,” said Johnson, who has said that, over the next couple years, this could be one of the best secondary units he’s had at BC. “We knew that going into the recruiting. It’s not a coincidence we recruited some good players in the secondary, because we had to. It wasn’t one of those things where we were surprised that we were playing freshmen.”
On offense, the lone first-team All-ODAC selection for BC was junior tackle Kyle Keister.
BC had two second-team selections: senior linebacker Salem Nganga and senior tight end Cord Keating. Third-team selections were Brent, sophomore tailback Jacob Wright and senior center Shawn Otte.
League champion Washington & Lee took the other top honors, with running back Luke Heinsohn winning Offensive Player of the Year and first-year coach Scott Abell, who took over after four years as the Generals’ offensive coordinator, winning Coach of the Year.
Guilford freshman quarterback Matt Pawlowski was the league’s Rookie of the Year.
The day after James Madison junior linebacker Stephon Robertson was named the Colonial Athletic Association’s top defensive player, Bridgewater College senior defensive tackle Joel Francis was given the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award Tuesday.
Not coincidentally, both BC and JMU had perhaps their leagues’ top defenses.
Statistically, the Eagles’ “D” was undisputedly the best, allowing the fewest points per game (17.6) by nearly a touchdown, with Division III playoff-bound Washington & Lee second at 24.4. BC also was way ahead of the conference in total defense (309.8 yards per game, with Shenandoah’s 350.1 second) and rushing defense (128.2 ypg to second-best Shenandoah’s 147.7).
JMU’s defense wasn’t quite as dominant within its league, but it still was stout. Madison was the only Colonial Athletic Association team to rank in the top two in both scoring defense (21 ppg, second) and total defense (323.3 ypg, second). The Dukes also dominated opposing ground games, limiting them to a league-best 122.5 yards per game (ahead of Delaware’s 134.2).
Madison returned seven starters from the 2011 defense that led the conference in both scoring defense and total defense, so its success wasn’t surprising. The Eagles’ defensive success was less expected.
BC graduated seven starters from last year’s team that went 6-4, giving up 26.9 points and 362.9 yards per game. Yet, even with a brand-new secondary, the Eagles yielded 9.3 fewer points and 53.1 fewer yards per contest this season.
“When you get new [recruiting] years, they might listen a little bit better,” seventh-year BC defensive coordinator Jack Johnson said, noting that last year’s defense was very good despite more bloated statistics. “Sometimes when you coach older guys, they’ve heard it already, they have a good understanding, and to some extent might tune you out a little bit because they think they know already. The young guys tend to hang on every word.”
The older guys helped, too – particularly Francis.
The 6-foot, 235-pound senior, who doubled as BC’s student-body president this year, is the ODAC’s only defensive lineman who finished in the top five in tackles for loss (he had 12.5, third) and the top 10 in sacks (4.5, tied for sixth). He led the Eagles in both those categories, while also finishing third with 55 tackles.
Nevertheless …
“This is a complete surprise,” said Francis, whose only other All-ODAC award was an honorable-mention selection as a sophomore. “…I was floored by the news.”
Francis was joined on the first team by senior defensive tackle Danny Grogg, junior linebacker Andrew Palmer and sophomore safety Darrick Gore. Grogg and Francis made a particularly tough tandem inside, as one was usually double-teamed with the other getting blocked one-on-one.
“We were able to stop the run with six in the box a lot of times, which is rare,” Johnson said. “You’re a man down with six, but with Joel and Danny, they gave you that extra-man advantage when they were next to each other.”
Like Madison’s, the Eagles’ offense was only OK and probably held them back from a playoff berth. (BC went 7-3 overall, 4-3 in the ODAC – two games behind W&L). But that was more expected from the Eagles, who were picked to finish fourth in the ODAC’s preseason poll and haven’t made the playoffs since 2005. BC coach Michael Clark had openly called this season one of rebuilding in which he hoped the Eagles would take a step back toward their dominance of the conference that included five straight league titles from 2001-05.
The defense, though, rebuilt more quickly than expected.
“I think we were an improved football team, and it started with defensive improvement,” Clark said.
BC’s new secondary – whose only starting freshman, Daniel Brent, made third-team all-conference at corner – gave up a league-best 181.6 yards per game, 18.1 yards ahead of the rest of the ODAC.
“They grew up fast, and they really didn’t have a choice,” said Johnson, who has said that, over the next couple years, this could be one of the best secondary units he’s had at BC. “We knew that going into the recruiting. It’s not a coincidence we recruited some good players in the secondary, because we had to. It wasn’t one of those things where we were surprised that we were playing freshmen.”
On offense, the lone first-team All-ODAC selection for BC was junior tackle Kyle Keister.
BC had two second-team selections: senior linebacker Salem Nganga and senior tight end Cord Keating. Third-team selections were Brent, sophomore tailback Jacob Wright and senior center Shawn Otte.
League champion Washington & Lee took the other top honors, with running back Luke Heinsohn winning Offensive Player of the Year and first-year coach Scott Abell, who took over after four years as the Generals’ offensive coordinator, winning Coach of the Year.
Guilford freshman quarterback Matt Pawlowski was the league’s Rookie of the Year.