UTM earns all-star, bowl selections

Posted: Friday, December 14, 2012 12:00 pm

Quarterback Derek Carr and place kicker Cody Sandlin, both members of UT Martin football team this past season, will play in the 2012 FCS Senior Football Bowl 4 p.m. Saturday in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Two other UTM senior players — defensive tackle Montori Hughes and wide receiver Quentin Sims — have been named to the 2012 The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS All-America teams.
The Football Champion-ship Subdivision (FCS) Senior Bowl will bring players together who represent 124 FCS programs to a North vs. South format all-star game.
Both Carr and Sandlin will play for the South team which will be coached by the Johnson C. Smith University staff.
Carr is the only player in the FCS or FBS to throw seven touchdowns in a game this year. The McKenzie product did it twice this season, once against Murray State and the other time against Jacksonville State.
Carr completed 264-of-415 passes for 3,276 yards and 31 touchdowns. He set new UT Martin school records for career TD passes (69), career passing yards (8,428), career pass attempts (1,110), career pass completions (665) and career total offense (8,484).
Sandlin made 44-of-45 PATs and nine field goals this past season.
He kicked the game-winning field goal with four seconds left to beat Memphis in the first game of this past season.
Sandlin finished his career with 218 points, the second most by kicking in school history.
Hughes, who transferred to UT Martin from Tennessee, finished the regular season with 42 tackles, 8.5 TFLs, four sacks and 13 quarterback hurries.
The Murfreesboro native was named to the The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS second team All-America defensive squad.. He was also named to the Ohio Valley Conference first-team defense.
Sims, also an All-OVC first team selection, was named to The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS All-America third team.
Sims had 86 catches for 1,092 yards and 16 touchdowns. The 16 touchdowns in one season is a new OVC record.
The Skyhawks wrap up the season with an 8-3 overall record, which is tied for the best winning percentage (.727) in the OVC.
That mark also ranks as the second-highest winning percentage in FCS program history, behind only the 2006 OVC championship team which went 9-3.
In conference play, UT Martin tied a program record with six OVC victories against only two losses. The Skyhawks racked up 39.9 points per game against league opposition and defeated OVC regular season champion Eastern Illinois by a 51-37 margin on Oct. 6, the Panthers’ only conference loss of the season. Published in The WCP 12.13.12

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