Football: Dotson is lone Cajun placed on All-Sun Belt first team

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, Nov. 30, 2018

Despite landing a spot in Saturday’s Sun Belt Conference championship game, just one Ragin’ Cajun was named to the first team when the league announced its All-Sun Belt team Thursday.

Right guard Kevin Dotson, a junior, was the lone Cajun named to the first team.

UL sophomore running back Elijah Mitchell and junior right tackle Robert Hunt were named to the second team, while sophomore running back Trey Ragas, junior receiver Ja’Marcus Bradley, freshman defensive lineman Zi’Yon Hill and junior inside linebacker Jacques Boudreaux made the third team.

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Boudreaux is UL’s leading tackler this year with 83.

Ragas has run for 1,040 yards so far this season and Mitchell 874.

Appalachian State’s Darrynton Evans and Troy’s B.J. Smith were picked as first-team running backs. Evans leads the league in rushing yards per game, Smith is second, Georgia Southern’s Wesley Fields (a second-team pick) is third, Ragas is fourth and Mitchell fifth.

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Cajuns receiving honorable mention were junior running back Raymond Calais Jr., junior defensive end Bennie Higgins, senior inside linebacker Justin Middleton and graduate-transfer kicker Kyle Pfau.

Arkansas State quarterback Justice Hansen was named Sun Belt Player of the Year, Appalachian State quarterback Zac Thomas Offensive Player of the Year, Arkansas State defensive end Ronheen Bingham Defensive Player of the Year, Arkansas State running back Marcel Murray Freshman of the Year, Arkansas State receiver Kirk Merritt Newcomer of the Year and Appalachian State’s Scott Satterfield Coach of the Year.

UL faces Sattefield’s Mountaineers at 11 a.m. central Saturday in the Sun Belt title game at Boone, North Carolina.

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Hansen was selected as the Sun Belt’s first team quarterback, and Thomas the second-teamer.

Other all-Sun Belt picks of note: UL Monroe’s Marcus Green is a first-team receiver, South Alabama’s Jamarius Way is a second-team receiver, ULM’s Caleb Evans is the third-team quarterback and Georgia State’s Penny Hart is a third-team receiver.

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