MACJC State Champion EMCC Lions well represented on All-Region 23 and MACJC All-State football teams

SCOOBA – Fresh from earning their fifth MACJC State/NJCAA Region 23 football championship in eight years, the third-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College have placed a state-most seven players on this year's NJCAA All-Region 23 football team, as announced Monday by the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges office headquartered in Jackson.     

While claiming their sixth consecutive MACJC North Division regular-season title and eighth in nine years, the 10-1 EMCC Lions also landed a division-best nine players on this year's MACJC All-State/North squad.  Along with ninth-year EMCC head coach Buddy Stephens collecting his fifth Region 23 Coach of the Year award, Lion quarterback De'Andre Johnson was tabbed the Region 23 Most Valuable Player as well as the MACJC North's MVP/Back on offense.

Twice named NJCAA Offensive Player of the Week and a three-time state weekly selection, Johnson currently ranks sixth nationally with an average of 248.3 passing yards per game and fifth with 25 touchdowns thrown.  As the team's rushing leader with 750 yards and five touchdowns on the ground for the year, the Florida State transfer is averaging 323.3 yards of total offense per contest on the season.  Johnson, out of First Coast High School in Jacksonville, Florida, becomes the fifth EMCC player under Stephens' guidance to garner Region 23 MVP accolades, joining former Lion quarterbacks Dontreal Pruitt (2013), Quez Johnson (2012), Bo Wallace (2011) and Randall Mackey (2008 & 2009).

Ranked sixth nationally in scoring offense (45.8 ppg) and seventh in total offense (508.5 yds/gm) as a team, East Mississippi also had offensive lineman Tyre Phillips (Grenada), wide receiver Brooks Shannon (North Pontotoc HS) and athlete Isaiah Wright (Florence) selected to the All-Region 23 squad as well as make the MACJC All-State/North First Team.  Shannon has a team-high 40 receptions for 448 yards and four touchdowns on the season.  Wright, the Lions' third-leading rusher with 422 yards, had the unique distinction of earning all-region and first-team all-state honors as a specialist/kick returner as well as gaining second-team all-state recognition as a running back.

Defensively for the three-time national champion EMCC Lions, sophomore transfers Dakota Allen (Texas Tech), Chauncey Rivers (Georgia) and Brian Cole II (Michigan) were all named All-Region 23 and MACJC All-State/North First Team.  Allen, out of Humble, Texas, is averaging a state-leading 10.0 tackles an outing.  Rivers tops EMCC's defenders with 7.5 sacks on the year, while Cole has three blocked kicks to his credit. 

Also voted to the MACJC All-State/North First Team for the Lions were sophomore offensive lineman Thaddeus Roberts (Petal) and freshman kicker/punter Taylor Crabtree (Vancleave HS).  Crabtree is presently tied for eighth nationally with 88 points scored on 9-of-12 field goal attempts and 61-of-65 point-after-touchdown tries.  The Pascagoula native is also averaging 38.2 yards per punt for the season.

With a dozen different players (eight on offense and four on defense) earning postseason recognition, East Mississippi was also represented on this year's MACJC All-State/North Second Team by sophomore wide receivers Damion Willis (Southeast Lauderdale HS) and Raphael Leonard (Starkville) along with sophomore defensive back TJ Jallow (Olive Branch).  Willis is EMCC's No. 3 receiver on the year with 31 catches for 573 yards and five touchdowns, while Leonard has 22 receptions for 321 yards and a team-leading six touchdown grabs.