National champion East Mississippi Community College grabs top NJCAA football team academic honors

SCOOBA – Headlined by the Lions football program pulling off the prestigious sweep of earning NJCAA Football Academic Team of the Year honors and winning the national championship during the same academic year, East Mississippi Community College had a total of four teams and 18 student-athletes garner national recognition for their academic excellence during the 2017-18 school year.  The NJCAA's team and individual honors for academic achievement were announced Wednesday by the national office headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo.

While becoming the first football program within the MACJC to reach four national championships, as recognized by the NJCAA, with their 31-28 Mississippi Bowl X victory over Arizona Western last December in Perkinston, head coach Buddy Stephens' EMCC Lions also topped all 65 NJCAA-affiliated schools that compete in football with a 3.01 composite team grade point average during the 2017-18 academic year.  The 2017 EMCC squad also became the first junior college football team to eclipse the 3.00 team GPA mark since Butler (Kan.) CC posted a 3.03 team GPA in 2013-14 – the same academic year in which East Mississippi earned the school's second national championship and the first of back-to-back NJCAA football titles.

"We're certainly very proud of all of our student-athletes and their academic accomplishments," EMCC Director of Athletics Dr. Randall Bradberry said.  "I'd especially like to congratulate Coach Buddy Stephens and his excellent staff of coaches and players for accomplishing the rare feat of being named the NJCAA's Football Academic Team of the Year during the same school year as winning EMCC's fourth national championship in seven years."  

Echoing Dr. Bradberry's sentiments was EMCC's Athletic Academic Advisor Abby Jenkins.

"I am extremely proud of the accomplishments our football team has made both in the classroom and on the field," Jenkins noted.  "It was so exciting to see the players' faces when they received last year's national championship trophy and rings, but to earn the national academic award for football as well is the more lasting feeling in knowing that they are prepared academically to achieve whatever their goals might be.  Becoming a national champion is an amazing feeling, but becoming a college graduate is a lasting reality." 

EMCC's softball team continued to rate among the nation's top programs academically by ranking fourth nationally with a 3.65 collective team GPA this past year.  East Mississippi has now stood among the NJCAA's top five academic team rankings in softball five times in the last six years.  The Lady Lions previously earned back-to-back NJCAA Softball Academic Team of the Year accolades by recording respective GPA marks of 3.59 and 3.57 in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

"I am amazed how consistent our softball team continues to be academically year in and year out," Jenkins continued.  "These young ladies are self-driven and they deserve the utmost credit for being able to balance their athletic careers along with their academic careers."

Additionally among EMCC's team ranks this past academic year, the Lions baseball club recorded a program-best 3.25 composite GPA to rank among the nation's Top 25 teams academically while also eclipsing the 3.00 team mark for the seventh time in the past 10 years.  Coach Sharon Thompson's Lady Lions basketball squad earned NJCAA honorable mention status for the second straight year with a 3.00 team GPA in 2017-18.  Though not affiliated with the NJCAA, Coach Morgan Goodrich's EMCC rodeo team posted a 3.11 collective grade point average this past year.

Softball pitcher/hitter Carly Thompson highlighted East Mississippi's 18 NJCAA academic award individual recipients with her cumulative 4.00 GPA achieved during her two-year stint on the Scooba campus.  The Germantown High School product, who has plans to enter the School of Nursing this fall at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, was one of a school-record six EMCC student-athletes to compile 4.00 GPAs in making the 2017-18 NJCAA All-Academic First Team.  Thompson was joined on the first team by softball teammates Avery Bouchillon, Bryley Rodriguez and Ashley Vickers along with baseball outfielder Dillon Brown and golfer Eli Hemphill for maintaining 4.00 GPAs throughout this past school year.

Including the club's quartet of first-team recipients, EMCC's softball team led the way with a total of nine NJCAA academic award honorees.  Second-teamers Rebekah Williams (3.90) and Mollie Singleterry (3.82) were joined by third-team members Layton Sills (3.75), Savanah Stapleton (3.63) and AG Stewart (3.63).

EMCC's baseball team was next with four NJCAA academic selections.  Headed by Brown, the Lions also had Ken Dill (3.83) as a second-team recipient as well as S.T. McMurrian (3.73) and Weston Acey (3.62) grabbing third-team honors.  Men's golf and women's basketball added second-team recipients in Coleman Suber (3.87) and Brianna Page (3.80), respectively, while men's basketball (Jordon Lee-3.68) and football (Jakoby Jones-3.62) each featured third-team honorees.

"All of these accomplishments say a great deal about the outstanding job that Abby Jenkins has done with all of our athletic teams," Bradberry continued.  "Since she started working here at EMCC last summer, Abby has spent countless hours with all of our student-athletes in getting them prepared for their future endeavors."  

Along with showcasing a school-best six first-team NJCAA academic honorees for having perfect 4.00 GPAs during the 2017-18 school year, East Mississippi also featured five second-teamers (3.80-3.99 GPAs) and seven third-teamers (3.60-3.79) as a collective athletic program.  

"Every person who is involved in some way in the lives of our student-athletes here at EMCC, from the time they apply for school until they leave campus, should receive credit for the academic success of our student-athletes," Jenkins added.

EMCC's Stephens, who enters the 2018 season two victories shy of the century mark for career wins as the school's all-time winningest football coach, concurs with Jenkins' assessment.

"Winning a national championship and earning a national top academic team award during the same school year is truly a testament to our students, staff, faculty and administration here at East Mississippi Community College all working together for the common goal of getting our students prepared for life after EMCC," Stephens said.  "A special recognition goes out to our athletic academic advisor Abby Jenkins for the outstanding work she does with all of our student-athletes and the meaningful working relationships she maintains between our players and coaches as well as our faculty and staff here at EMCC."