EMCC Lions tout conference-most 18 all-division selections on 2024 All-MACCC football teams

JACKSON – East Mississippi Community College has placed a conference-most 18 all-division players on the 2024 All-MACCC football teams. Selected by a panel of the MACCC's head football coaches, the conference's first-team, second-team and honorable mention football selections from the league's North and South Divisions were announced Wednesday by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference office.

EMCC's league-high 18 all-division player selections this year included five first-team recipients, nine second-team honorees, and four honorable mentions. Represented by at least one player from each of the eight primary position groups on offense, defense and special teams, the 2024 Lions featured five repeat All-MACCC North Division performers in quarterback Ty Keyes (Taylorsville [MS] HS), wide receiver Raymon Blackmon (Dothan [AL] HS), offensive linemen Braxton Goff (Petal [MS] HS) and Roscoe Tucker (Meridian [MS] HS), and defensive back Shannon Blair Jr. (Knoxville, TN/Knoxville West HS)

Along with Blair's back-to-back, first-team selections, EMCC also featured 2024 MACCC North Division Special Teams Player of the Year Chasden Collins (Wiggins, MS/Stone HS). The sophomore receiver/returner averaged 20.4 yards on 11 punt returns, including a 67-yard touchdown return against Hinds, along with averaging 19.8 yards on 18 kickoff returns during the season.

Also earning first-team honors for head coach Buddy Stephens' 5-4 Lions were sophomores Jaylon York (Starkville [MS] HS), Zavion Hardy (Macon, GA/Howard HS) and Goff. York was EMCC's leading receiver on the year with 43 catches to tie for 11^th nationally in addition to ranking 10^th within the NJCAA Division I ranks in receptions per game (4.8) and 13^th in receiving yards per contest (63.9). Goff, the team's two-year starting center, moved up from last year's second-team selection. Hardy continued to rank as one of the MACCC's most dominant and highly touted defensive linemen this past season.

EMCC's nine second-team recipients were headlined by Keyes, who earned 2023 NJCAA Division I Offensive Player of the Year and MACCC All-North Division Offensive Player of the Year honors in leading the 10-3 Lions to a national runner-up finish a season ago. Currently ranked fourth nationally in passing yards per game (225.1) and tied for fifth with 19 passing touchdowns on the year, Keyes completed 57.1 percent (161-of-282) of his passes this past season for 2,026 yards. For his two-year EMCC career, the former Southern Miss bounceback threw for 5,376 yards and 52 touchdowns on 424-of-734 (57.8%) passing.

Maintaining his second-team, all-league status from a year ago, Blackmon added 35 receptions for 411 yards and three touchdowns as a sophomore to give him a career total of 80 catches for 1,143 receiving yards and nine scoring grabs for the Lions.

Freshman running back Gavin Griffin (Canton, MS/Velma Jackson HS) rushed for a team-high 554 yards and eight touchdowns on 78 carries (7.1 yds/att) to garner second-team, all-division honors. Last year's MHSAA Class 1A Mr. Football as a Velma Jackson High School senior recorded a trio of 100-yard rushing games for this year's EMCC squad, including a season-high 136 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 attempts during the Lions' 51-15 win at eighth-ranked Holmes in the regular-season finale.

EMCC's 2024 all-conference performers on the offensive side of the football were rounded out by second-team linemen Wes Thompson (Muscle Shoals [AL] HS), a Tennessee Tech bounceback, and Tucker, who stepped up from honorable mention status a year ago as a freshman.

Defensively for the Lions, second-team laurels were earned by bounceback defensive backs Tony Mitchell (Lakeland, FL/Thompson [AL] HS) and Dylan King (Nashville, TN/Oakland HS) by way of Alabama and Tennessee State, respectively. Second-year EMCC linebackers Martavis Blackmon (Oxford [MS] HS) and Ny'Jadus Roberts-Holloway (Starkville [MS] HS) also collected second-team honors after leading the team with 43 total tackles and two pass interceptions, respectively, this past season.     

The sophomore quartet comprised of defensive linemen Rashod Bradley (Lake City, FL/Columbia HS), Mikel Hines (Hueytown [AL] HS) and Rosco Malloy (Anniston [AL] HS) along with defensive back Brandon Short (Starkville [MS] HS) finished out East Mississippi's 2024 All-MACCC football selections by collecting honorable mention recognition.