SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Three Elon football players were tabbed as preseason all-conference selections by the Southern Conference's nine coaches as announced by the league on Monday. The coaches also picked the Phoenix to finish fifth in the SoCon standings.
Garnering first-team honors were offensive lineman
Rodney Austin and wide receiver
Aaron Mellette. Linebacker
Joshua Jones was a second-team pick.
Austin, who hails from Charlotte, N.C., started all 11 games for Elon along the offensive line in 2010. His performance helped the Phoenix rank first in the SoCon and second nationally in passing offense (322.36 yards per game) and first in the league and ninth nationally with 435.18 total offensive yards per outing. Austin was a first-team All-SoCon pick by the league's coaches and was a third-team choice to Phil Steele's All-American Team. Austin has been a preseason All-America choice by The Sports Network,
Phil Steele's College Football Preview and Consensus Draft Services.
Mellette established an Elon single-game record with 18 receptions for 195 yards at No. 9 Richmond early in the 2010 season and went on to finish second in the SoCon with 1,100 receiving yards. He caught a league-high 86 passes and led the conference with 12 receiving touchdowns. Mellette concluded the regular season by ranking third in the country with 7.82 receptions per game and sixth nationally with 100.00 yards per outing. He posted six 100-yard receiving games on the year. Mellette, who is from Sanford, N.C., was a first-team All-Southern Conference selection by both the league's coaches and media. Mellette also earned second-team AP All-American honors as well as third-team All-America accolades from The Sports Network and was a second-team selection to Phil Steele's All-American Team. Mellette has been a preseason All-America choice by The Sports Network,
Phil Steele's College Football Preview and Consensus Draft Services.
Jones, a native of Tampa, Fla., is Elon's leading returning tackler after amassing 74 stops a year ago. Jones intercepted one pass, returning it 25 yards for a touchdown in a victory over 20th-ranked Chattanooga, and broke up two other passes. His 6.7 tackles per game ranked 12th in the SoCon in 2010.
Appalachian State was picked atop the preseason poll for the sixth consecutive season and earned five of the nine first-place votes and 60 total points. Just one point back was Georgia Southern which garnered three first-place nods. Wofford (49 points) was picked third while Chattanooga received the final first-place vote and 45 total points to sit fourth.
The Phoenix (33 points) was sandwiched between UTC and Furman (30 points) with Samford (25 points), The Citadel (13 points) and Western Carolina (10 points) rounding out the poll.
Elon's 2011 campaign gets underway at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 3 as the Phoenix travels to Nashville, Tenn., to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in a game that will air live on CSS.
-- ELON --
