2019 C Spire Conerly Trophy nominees announced

Courtesy of the MS Sports Hall of Fame

The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame has announced the nominees for the 2019 C Spire Conerly Trophy.

Each of the four-year colleges in Mississippi that play football are asked to select their top player as a candidate for the Most Outstanding Player of the Year.  The C Spire Conerly Trophy is named after Clarksdale native, Ole Miss and NY Giant star Charlie Conerly.  2019 marks the 24^th presentation of the award that has had many recipients go on to professional stardom.

Past winners include Deuce McAllister, Jerious Norwood, Patrick Willis, Evan Engram, A.J. Brown, Jeffery Simmons and two-time winners Eli Manning and Dak Prescott.  This year’s winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 3^rd at the Country Club of Jackson.  The event begins at 5:30pm with a reception and the program follows at 6:30pm.  Tickets are available online at www.msfame.com or by calling 601-982-8264.

Here are this year’s nominees listed alphabetically for the ten schools:

1. Jack Abraham – This redshirt junior quarterback is the nominee from Southern Mississippi.  He is 6 feet and 204 lbs. and has lead the Golden Eagles to a 7-4 record. In 11 games the Oxford native has passed for 3147 yards and thrown 18 touchdowns.  He averages 286 passing yards per game.  He has completed 233 of 343 throws.  He also has run for 102 yards and 4 additional touchdowns.
2. Junior Faulk – Defensive Back Junior Faulk has been nominated by Delta State University.  Faulk is 6’1” and 200 lbs. and comes from Jayess, MS and Southwest Community College.  He holds the record for most interceptions in a season with 9 and returned them for 131 yards.  Three times this season he recorded 2 interceptions in a game.  Faulk recorded 37 tackles, recovered one fumble and forced one fumble for Todd Cooley’s squad that ended with a 6-4 record.
3. Keonte Hampton – Jackson State’s representative is sophomore linebacker Keonte Hampton.  From West Point, MS he is listed as 6’2” tall and 225 lbs.  He was an All-SWAC preseason selection.  On the year he made 106 tackles including 69 solo take downs.  He recorded 13 tackles for a loss and had 4.5 sacks.
4. Felix Harper – Junior quarterback of Alcorn State University has been nominated by the Braves.  Stepping in to the lineup in the early season, Harper has lead Coach McNair’s Braves team into the SWAC Championship game.  The lefty has been the SWAC Offensive Player of the Week three times.  Harper completes 61.8% of his passes and has thrown for 2387 yards and 29 touchdowns.  He has run for 154 yards and 4 TD’s.
5. Detric Hawthorn – Senior Quarterback Detric Hawthorn from Collins, MS and Jones County Community College represents Mississippi College.  The 5’8” 170 lbs. signal caller ran for 586 yards and 9 touchdowns for the Choctaws.  He completed 31 of 83 passes totaling 635 yards and 4 more TD’s.  The versatile Hawthorn also was a star on defense making 59 tackles, 45 solo tackles, two tackles for a loss, picking off 2 interceptions and forcing 2 fumbles.  The Choctaws ended the season 5-5 for Coach John Bland.
6. Kylin Hill – From Columbus, MS Kylin Hill the Mississippi State running back is the Bulldog selection. The junior running back leads the SEC in total rushing yards and yards per game average.  He has had 7 games with over 100 yards gained.  On the season he has picked up 1215 yards and 10 touchdowns.  He has also caught 16 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown.  He was the SEC Player of the Week for his efforts vs Arkansas when he ran for 234 yards and 3 TD’s.
7. Hunter McEachern – The Belhaven nominee is quarterback Hunter McEachern.  In nine games he ran for 267 yards and had a long run of 36 yards.  Passing Hunter completed 53% of his 281 passes for a total of 1755 yards and 9 touchdowns.  McEachern averaged 195 yards passing per game.  He was the schools C Spire Player of the Week against Sul Ross State when he was 9 of 16 passing for 118 yards and ran for 74 yards on 10 carries.
8. John Rhys Plumlee – This freshman quarterback played in 8 games and started the last 7.  At 6 foot and 192 lbs. this speedster has run for 989 yards going into the Egg Bowl game.  He has run for 11 touchdowns and thrown for 4 more completing 51% of his passes.  This Hattiesburg native set the Ole Miss freshman record for rushing averaging 123.6 yards per game.
9. Tracy Thompkins – A 5’9” defensive back out of Miami, FL is the Mississippi Valley State nominee.  Thompkins collected 107 tackles on the season for the 2-9 Delta Devils.  He made 68 solo tackles and had 12.5 tackles for a loss.  He had one sack, forced three fumbles and recovered two fumbles.  His three forced fumbles lead the SWAC.  He was in double digits in tackles six times.  He was the co-SWAC Defensive Player of the Week after collecting 15 tackles versus Lamar.
10. Liam Vincifora – Millsaps defensive end Liam Vincifora represents that school.  In 10 games this season the biology major made 59 tackles, had 21 tackles for a loss, produces 14 sacks forced 2 fumbles and recovered one fumble.  He led the conference in sacks making opponents lose 109 yards.  In DIII he was third in sacks and led the conference in tackles for a loss for 126 yards.

The public will have their opportunity to vote for their favorites among this group during the C Spire Fan Vote which will be held starting at 5pm Monday November 25^th and running through Sunday December 1^st at noon.  The Fan Vote will count 10% of the final total and will be combined with a vote of state-wide media for the final selection.  To cast your vote visit http://cspireconerlyvoting.hscampaigns.com/.