Springfield Gardens, New York, sophomore running back earns second All-America honor of his record-breaking season with second team honors
2019 Don Hansen NCAA Division II All-America Teams
EASTON, Mass. (January 29, 2020) – Stonehill College sophomore running back Justin Felder has earned the second All-America honor of his record-breaking season with his selection to the Don Hansen NCAA Division II All-America second team, the Don Hansen Football Committee has announced.
The Don Hansen team carries out the legacy of long-time small college football advocate Don Hansen, who passed away at age 75 on August 29, 2010. Hansen, from Brookfield, Illinois, started and published Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette for three decades, selecting NCAA Division II All-America teams for the first time in 1988. Felder is one of two Northeast-10 Conference student-athletes named to the Don Hansen All-America teams, joining American International College junior defensive lineman Isiah Tolbert on the second team, while two others from the NE10 collected honorable mention recognition.
Felder, Stonehill's first Harlon Hill Trophy candidate, earns his second All-America honor of his record-breaking season, adding the Don Hansen All-America second team honor to his second team recognition for the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coaches' All-America Team last month. He was also named an honorable mention All-American by D2Football.com. Felder is Stonehill's first football student-athlete in program history named an All-American by two organizations in the same year and the program's second Don Hansen All-American, along with Brian Harrington, '15, also a second-team selection in 2013.
Felder is the first in program history to earn multiple All-America honors in the same season. (PHOTO BY Mary Gettens) |
In addition to his three All-America honors, Felder received the New England Football Writers College Division Gold Helmet Award as the top Division II/III player in New England, was named the Northeast-10's Most Valuable Player and D2Football.com NE10 Offensive Player of the Year. He earned All-Super Region 1 honors from Don Hansen's Football Gazette (first team) and D2CCCA (second team), while also being selected to the New England Football Writers Division II/III All-Star Team and All-NE10 first team.
Felder enjoyed a breakout sophomore season for Stonehill, setting program records for rushing attempts (236), yards (1,513), touchdowns (16), total touchdowns (18), scoring (108 points) and all-purpose yards (1,611). He started the last eight games of the season and went on to lead the NE10 in each category listed above, ranking fourth in Division II for rushing yards per game (151.3), sixth for rushing yards, tenth for rushing touchdowns, 11th for total touchdowns, 12th in all-purpose yards, 17th in points scored, and 23rd for rushing yards per attempt (6.4).
Felder earned NE10 Offensive Player of the Week honors a program-record four times over the course of the season. He also received the New England Football Writers Division II/III Weekly Gold Helmet Award on November 10 and posted the first 100-point and 1,500-yard rushing season in program history, surpassing 100-yards in seven of ten games and is the first running back in NE10 history to rush for over 300-yards in back to back weeks. Felder set a school-record with his 314 yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns, averaging a program-best 13.1 yards per carry, in Stonehill's 41-20 win over Southern Connecticut State University on November 2. He followed that up with 311 yards on a career-high 40 carries and four touchdowns, with three rushing and another receiving, in the Skyhawks 34-22 win over Pace University on November 9.
Felder is already quickly moving up Stonehill's career rushing leaders after just 18 games played through his first two seasons. He ranks third in program history with his 18 career rushing touchdowns, which is just six shy of the program record of 24 by Eddie Vachon '11 and teammate Brian Kearns, Jr., while ranking seventh with 1,942 career yards, eighth with 21 total touchdowns and ninth with 331 rushing attempts.
Stonehill finished its 2019 season with a 6-4 record overall, including 5-3 in the NE10 to finish in third place in the Conference, just a game out of first place. In addition to Felder's Offensive Player of the Year selection by D2Football.com, head coach Eli Gardner was named the website's NE10 Coach of the Year after leading the Skyhawks resurgence from a 2-8 campaign a year ago and being picked sixth in the NE10 preseason coaches' poll. A program-record 14 from Stonehill earned All-NE10 honors this fall, including a program-best six on the first team, with a program-best five named to the Don Hansen's Football Gazette All-Super Region 1 teams.
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