Westampton, N.J., native is program's first Academic All-District honoree since 2008
2012 Capital One Academic All-District Football Teams
EASTON, Mass. (November 8, 2012) – Stonehill College junior defensive back James Lanier (Westampton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) has earned Capital One Academic All-District I first team honors for football as selected by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) in Division II Super Region 1. Lanier is now eligible for Academic All-America honors, selected by CoSIDA's Academic All-America committee, to be announced on Wednesday, December 5.
Lanier, who has earned a 3.40 cumulative grade point average as a criminology major, is Stonehill's first Academic All-District football selection since former defensive lineman Kevin Bonnett, '09, received first team honors in 2008. Lanier is the first Stonehill defensive back to receive Academic All-District accolades since Sean Donahue, '08, in 2007. He receives his first major academic award after earning a spot on the Northeast-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll each semester at the College and Athletic Director's Honor Roll once.
Lanier has played all nine games for Stonehill so far this season, starting seven and ranks sixth on the team with 39 tackles (32 solo), including 1.5 for a loss of three yards, three pass breakups, a forced fumble and fumble recovery. He ranks third on the team for solo tackles (18th in the NE-10).
Lanier posted three solo tackles and forced a fumble in the Skyhawks' 13-0 shutout of Southern Connecticut State University on September 8. He finished with a career-high nine tackles (eight solo) and recovered a fumble at American International College on October 5 and then added seven solo stops and a pass breakup against No. 3 University of New Haven on October 18.
Lanier has appeared in 30 games over his career at Stonehill and totaled 66 tackles (52 solo), with the 1.5 for a loss of three yards, and four pass breakups. He is one of two Northeast-10 representatives on the Academic All-District I team.
Stonehill (5-4, 5-3 NE-10) is in action on Saturday when it rounds out the 2012 season with the inaugural Northeast-10 Championship Weekend. The fourth-seeded Skyhawks will host seventh-seeded Southern Connecticut State at Timothy J. Coughlin Memorial Field at W.B. Mason Stadium at 1 p.m. Stonehill, which has finished above. 500 in NE-10 play for the first time since head coach Robert Talley's first season in 2007, looks to finish off its first winning campaign overall since going 8-2 under Connie Driscoll in 1996.