![Birmingham-Southern's Morris Heads D3football.com All-America Selections](/images/fball/morris_shawn660b.jpg?max_width=450)
SALEM, Va. - Birmingham-Southern College junior
running back Shawn Morris was selected as a D3football.com First
Team All-American in an announcement made at halftime
of Friday evening's 2011 NCAA Division III National
Championship football game.
Centre College senior offensive lineman Ben Hume was named to the
Third Team and Trinity University junior punter Kyle Trella was
recognized as Honorable Mention. Complete Release
Morris, a 5-8, 192-pound junior running back from
Pensacola, Fla., had one of the most prolific seasons by a SCAC
running back in league history. In just nine games, Morris finished
with 1,449 yards rushing – the third most in the 50-year
history of the conference – and 17 touchdowns in leading the
Panthers to a 7-2 record, the most wins for the program since
reinstating football in 2007. A two-time selection to the
D3football.com Team-of-the-Week, he also had a team-high 17
receptions for 131 yards. Morris had a record-setting game in
Birmingham-Southern's season-finale against Millsaps, rushing for a
program- and league-record 332 yards in the 35-21 win. The
performance marks just the third 300+ yard rushing game by a SCAC
back in league history and shatters the former single-game mark of
305 posted by Jeremy Boyce of Trinity in a 2001 contest
against Sewanee.
Hume, a 6-4, 280-pound senior offensive tackle
from Lexington, Ky., helped lead Centre to a 9-2 overall
record including a 5-1 mark in conference play and a second-place
finish and the school's first-ever bid to the NCAA Division III
playoffs, where they lost to eventual Stagg Bowl participant Mount
Union in the second round. Hume anchored a Colonel offensive line
that helped Centre lead the league in scoring offense (33.4
points/game) and rank in the top three in total offense (second -
362.3 yards/game), rushing offense (third - 189.4 yards/game) and
passing offense (third - 172.9 yards/game.). Additionally, Hume
helped pave the way for the Centre running game to tally over 1,700
yards and 24 touchdowns. Hume was named to the 2011 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division
III All-America team earlier this week.
Trella, a 5-11, 175-pound junior from Chandler,
Ariz., led the SCAC and was second in the nation in punting,
averaging 42.6 yards per attempt. He was a First
Team All-SCAC and All-South Region selection as a freshman in 2009
when he was named the SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year. He was a Second
Team All-SCAC honoree in both 2010 and 2011. Trella
was a four-time SCAC Special Teams Player of the Week (Week 2, Week
9, Week 10, Week 11) this past season.