Local players honored with end-of-season college basketball awards

BY LOGAN BUTTS

The Titans fired secondary coach Anthony Midget after the 2022 season, after the team had the worst pass defense in the NFL. Chris Harris, formerly of the Washington Commanders, was brought in to coach cornerbacks and to serve as defensive passing game coordinator.

The Titans now have cornerbacks Murphy-Bunting, Kristian Fulton, Roger McCreary, Elijah Molden, Caleb Farley and Tre Avery on the roster. The oldest, Avery, is just 26 years old.

On The Way Out

Veteran tight end Austin Hooper, who spent the 2022 season with the Titans, sighed with the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday, according to NFL reporter Ian Rapoport.

Hooper split targets with rookie tight end Chig Okonkwo but still caught 41 passes for 441 yards and two touchdowns. Throughout his seven-year career, which has included stops with the Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns, Hooper has nearly 3,500 receiving yards and 25 touchdowns.

This story was first published by our sister publication Nashville Post.

A slew of end-of-season college basketball awards have been announced over the past month, and a number of local players and coaches have been lauded for their 2022-23 performance.

Tennessee State star Jr. Clay earned perhaps the most notable of the honors handed out, landing on the HBCU AllAmerica First Team.

The Chattanooga native, who recently became the first player in OVC history to earn five consecutive First-Team AllConference honors, led the Tigers in scoring (19.3), assists (5.5), and steals (1.5) and added 5.0 rebounds per game.

Clay was also named to the NABC AllDistrict teams, landing on the second team for District 18. The NABC also honored Belmont’s Ben Sheppard (first team, District 16), Lipscomb’s Jacob Ognacevic (second team, District 3), Middle Tennessee’s Eli Lawrence (second team, District 11), Tennessee’s Santiago Vescovi and Zakai Zeigler (second team, District 20), Tennessee Tech’s Jaylen Sebree (second team, District 18), UT Martin’s KJ Simon and Parker Stewart (first team, District 18), Chattanooga’s Jake Stephens (first team, District 21), and Memphis’ Kendric Davis and DeAndre Williams (first team, District 24).

Vescovi and Zeigler were the only ones to also earn spots on the USBWA All-District teams. They were joined by Vanderbilt’s Liam Robbins on the All-District IV team.

Lastly, the Belmont Bruins and Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse were well-represented on the finalists list for the CollegeInsider.com awards, all of which are announced at the Final Four in Houston later this month.

Sheppard was named a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, which goes to the top mid-major player in men’s college basketball. The senior led Belmont in points (18.) and added 5.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.4 steals per game.

Belmont’s Cade Tyson made the list of finalists for the Kyle Macy Award, which is given to the best freshman in the nation.

Tyson averaged 13.6 points and 4.6 rebounds while starting 28 out of 30 games played.

Stackhouse and Belmont head coach Casey Alexander are finalists for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year award which is award to “those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off of it as well.”

Stackhouse was also on the shortlist for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award and the Ben Jobe Award, an honor that is presented annually to the top minority coach in Division I.