Courtesy: JMUSports.com

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From ECAC & JMU Dispatches

CAPE COD, Mass., Jan. 8, 2009 – James Madison senior quarterback Rodney Landers (Virginia Beach, Va./Tallwood) Thursday was named the 2008 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Football Championship Subdivision Player of the Year.  Landers was among four Dukes named to the 25-man team, 11 on offense and defense and three specialists.

Joining Landers on the team from JMU were senior center Scott Lemn (Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville), junior kick returner Scotty McGee (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) and senior free safety Marcus Haywood (Williamsburg, Va./Bruton).

Landers during the 2008 season passed for 1,534 yards and 21 touchdowns with only four interceptions and ran for 1,770 yards and 16 touchdowns .  The Walter Payton Award runner-up ranked eighth nationally in rushing yards per game (126.4) and led the Dukes into the NCAA semifinals and to a 12-2 record.

Landers earlier was named the offensive player of the year in the Colonial Athletic Association and the Dudley Award winner as the leading Division I college player in Virginia for the 2008 season.

William & Mary freshman running back Jonathan Grimes was named the 2008 ECAC FCS Rookie of the Year.  Grimes finished the season with 929 yards rushing and seven touchdowns while also returning 22 kickoffs for 539 yards and a score.  He also was offensive rookie of the year in the CAA.

Maine defensive lineman Jovan Belcher and Lafayette linebacker Andy Romans of Lafayette are the only returning all-stars to make the All-ECAC team2008 list.

JMU’s four selections led the team, and Massachusetts and Albany each had three players named.

The ECAC will honor the players and rookies of the year in each of its divisions and regions Feb. 24, 2009 at the annual Eastern College Football Awards Banquet presented by FieldTurf Tarkett, an event held in the Pegasus Restaurant at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J.

Haywood was an Associated Press second-team All-America after leading JMU in tackles with 101 and interceptions with five during the 2008 season.  He was a first-team All-CAA honoree and finished sixth in voting for the Buck Buchanan Award that is presented to the FCS’s top defensive player.

Landers was an Associated Press second-team All-America was among the players named to a listing of the FCS’s top 50 players by College Sporting News.  Landers set JMU season records in 2008 for rushing yards and yards of total offense, completed 63.3 percent (112-177) of his passes with only four interceptions, and averaged 6.6 yards per rushing attempt and 126.4 rushing yards per game.

Lemn also has been named a first-team All-America by the Associated Press and the Walter Camp Foundation and was among the players named to a listing of the FCS’s top 50 players by College Sporting News.  He became a JMU starter during his freshman season and was a first-team All-Colonial Athletic Association selection in 2007 and 2008.  JMU during the 2008 season averaged 38.1 points and 401.4 yards per game, including 282.8 yards per game rushing.

McGee in 2008 averaged 29.1 yards on 22 kickoff returns and 12.9 yards on 23 punt returns.  He returned three punts for touchdowns and one kickoff for a score and took part in 30 tackles while playing cornerback.  He also was among the players named to a listing of the FCS’s top 50 players by College Sporting News

About the ECAC®

The ECAC is the nation’s largest athletic conference and only multi-divisional conference, with 321 member institutions and more than 122,000 student-athletes ranging across 16 states from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Illinois.  Established in 1938 with 58 charter members, the ECAC has since emerged as the nationwide leader in service.  The ECAC honors more than 2,500 student-athletes during the academic year through its all-star and player of the week programs.  Each week, the conference has recognized 12 football players of the week, including offensive and defensive, in the Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, and Division III (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest Regions).

To view other ECAC football all-star teams, the football news archive, or results from ECAC football bowl games, please visit the ECAC’s fan-friendly website at www.ecacsports.com/sports/fall/fball/index.

2008 ECAC FCS All-Stars

Player of the Year

Rodney Landers Sr. QB James Madison

Rookie of the Year

Jonathan Grimes Fr. RB William & Mary

Offense

Rodney Landers, Sr., QB, James Madison

David Sinsi, Jr., RB, Monmouth

Rashad Jennings, Sr., RB, Liberty

Mike Boyle, Sr., WR, New Hampshire

Bobby Sewall, Jr., WR, Brown

Scott Sicko, Jr., TE, New Hampshire

Nick Hennessey, Sr., OL, Colgate

Jon Leible, Sr., OL, Albany

Raphael Nguti, Sr., OL Albany

Scott Lemn, Sr., OL, James Madison

Shane Kelley, Sr., OL, Brown

Defense

Jovan Belcher, Sr., DL, Maine

Greg Miller, Sr., DL, Villanova

Adrian Tracy, Jr., DL, William & Mary

Matt Curtis, Sr., DL, Harvard

Andy Romans, Sr., LB, Lafayette

Bobby Abare, Sr., LB, Yale

Josh Jennings, Jr., LB, Massachusetts

Andrew Berry, Sr., DB, Harvard

Dave Casale, Jr., DB, Albany

Courtney Robinson, Sr., DB, Massachusetts

Marcus Haywood, Sr., DB, James Madison

Special Teams

Andrew Samson, So., K, Pennsylvania

Brett Arnold, Sr., P, Massachusetts

Scotty McGee, Jr., James Madison

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