NEW ORLEANS- The Sun Belt Conference had 11 players honored when the Rotary Lomabrdi Award committee announced the 2014 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List. The list included 123 student-athletes from across 76 universities.
Bryce Giddens (Arkansas State), Justin Hamilton (UL Lafayette), Gerrand Johnson (UL Monroe), Qushaun Lee (Arkansas State), David Mayo (Texas State), Terrence Jones (Troy) Mykhael Quave (UL Lafayette), Daniel Quave (UL Lafayette), Tyler Roberts (Troy), Dominique Tovell (UL Lafayette), and Ucambre Williams (South Alabama) were the players honored.
UL Lafayette boasts four players named to the team led by the only pair of brothers Daniel and Mykhael Quave. Daniel Quave, earned second-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors in 2013 after starting all 13 games at right guard for the Ragin' Cajuns and extending his streak to 39 consecutive starts. The senior from Gautier, Miss., led the Cajuns with 34 knockdowns.
Mykhael Quave started all 13 games last season at left tackle as a junior and finished second on the team with 30 knockdowns. The Gautier, Miss., native extended his consecutive starting streak to 26 after starting all 13 games in 2012 at left guard.
Justin Hamilton, led all UL Lafayette defensive linemen with 38 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and a team-high four sacks. The senior from Natchez, Miss. earned second-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors after playing in 13 games with 12 starts.
Dominique Tovell, a junior linebacker, finished second on the Ragin' Cajuns with 67 tackles, including a team-high 12 stops for loss. Tovell, a native of Columbia, Miss., added a pair of sacks, two forced fumbles, and two pass breakups.
Tyler Roberts and Terrence Jones from Troy were named to the list. Roberts is a junior defensive lineman from Hoover, Ala. who was named to the All-Sun Belt Conference Second Team after finishing with 5.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss. He ranked sixth in the league in sacks and earned a Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week award for his performance against UL Lafayette on November 7.
Jones finished with 17 knockdown blocks during the 2013 season as he was named All-Sun Belt Conference First Team. Jones led an offensive line that paced the Sun Belt by allowing just one sack every 25.4 pass attempts.
Arkansas State senior linebacker Qushaun Lee earned All-Sun Belt Conference First Team honors last season after collecting a career-high 134 tackles and six tackles for loss. The 134 tackles led the Sun Belt Conference and ranked 12th in the nation in 2013, while also marking the sixth-most in school history and the most since the 1991 season.
UL Monroe’s Gerrand Johnson is coming off a season in which he earned All-Sun Belt Second Team honors. Last season, the Rayville, La., native started all 12 games in the middle of the three-man defensive line and tied for the team lead in tackles for loss with 11. He finished fourth on the squad with 56 total tackles.
David Mayo, a senior linebacker from Scappoose, Ore., was named All-Sun Belt Honorable Mention following the 2013 season. The Texas State student-athlete led the Sun Belt and ranked 12th in the country in solo tackles per game with 6.0. Mayo also grabbed four interceptions to rank second in the conference.
Ucambre Williams, a senior from Phenix City, Ala., was named preseason All-Sun Belt Conference Second Team by both Phil Steele Publications and Athlon Sports this offseason. Williams posted 43 knockdowns to earn himself a spot on the All-Sun Belt second team last fall.
Eligibility for the Rotary Lombardi Award is limited to down linemen, end-to-end, either on offense or defense, who set up no farther than 10 yards to the left or right of the ball, or linebackers who set up no farther than five yards deep from the line of scrimmage. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 at the Bayou Music Center in Houston, Texas.
The voting electorate is made up of the head coaches from all Division I schools, sports media personnel from across the country and former winners and finalists of the Rotary Lombardi Award. Currently the total number of voters is approximately 300.