FRISCO, Texas – Following one of the greatest performances in McNeese Football history, senior linebacker B.J. Blunt has been named this year's Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year as well as garnering first team all-conference defensive honors, the league office announced on Tuesday in conjunction with the release of the 2018 All-Conference postseason teams.
 
Blunt, a native of New Orleans, led the Cowboys and ranked fifth in the nation with 11 sacks on the season while ranked No. 3 in the FCS with 20 tackles for a loss.
 
The Buck Buchanan Award finalist and recent invitee to the East-West Shrine Game, recorded 102 tackles on the season and posted four games with 10 or more stops with a high of 20 tackles in a win over Abilene Christian. He also posted 17 tackles at Southeastern Louisiana and had 12 versus Stephen F. Austin and Incarnate Word.
 
He earned Southland Conference Player of the Week honors twice and once the national player of the week by STATS and College Sports Madness. He missed the last game of the season due to an injury.
 
Blunt is the seventh McNeese Cowboy to be named the league's top defensive player and first since Wallace Scott in 2015.
 
Senior punter Alex Kjellsten earned first team All-Conference honors as did junior cornerback Colby Burton. Junior offensive lineman Grant Burguillos and junior defensive end Chris Livings were named to the All-SLC second team units while place kicker Gunnar Raborn, wide receiver Cyron Sutton and defensive end Cody Roscoe garnered honorable mention honors.
 
Kjellsten led the conference and ranked seventh in the nation with a 43.81 yards per punt average. That mark set a new single-season school record, breaking the old mark of 43.76 held by Don Stump and set in the 1979 season.
 
The Lake Charles native punted 78 times on the season with a long of 66 yards. A total of 26 punts were downed inside the 20-yard line, 27 fair catches, nine touchbacks, and 21 that went for 51 yards or longer.
 
Earlier in the year, he set a new single-game punting mark with a 51.7 average on six punts against Central Arkansas, breaking Stump's previous record of 51.6, and he compiled a record 42.09 career average, also breaking Stump's previous mark of 41.49.
 
Burton tied for the team lead with two pass interceptions on the season and ranked second on the squad with eight pass breakups. In addition, he recorded 31 tackles and had 3.5 tackles for a loss.
 
The League City, Texas native picked off both his passes in the Cowboys' win over Central Arkansas and was named the league's defensive player of the week as well as STATS National Honorable Mention for his performance.
 
Livings finished second on the team and ninth in the Southland Conference with eight sacks on the season and was second on the squad and 15^th in the league with 10.5 tackles for a loss, all that and still missing three games due to an injury.
 
The Lake Charles native tied a single-game school record with five quarterback sacks in a win over Abilene Christian and was named the Southland Conference and Louisiana Player of the Week as well as STATS honorable mention national player of the week.
 
Burguillos started all 11 games for the Cowboys on the offensive line and played a total of 686 of the team's 736 snaps on the season.
 
The Mandeville native allowed just two sacks on the year.
 
Raborn connected on 16 of 22 field goals on the year, tying for the league lead in made attempts.
 
The Lafayette native earned conference player of the week honors after he scored 11 points in the win over Central Arkansas following a 3-for-3 game in field goals, and 2-for-2 in extra points.
 
His 16 field goals on the year gives him 35 in his career, ranking him No. 10 on the school's all-time field goals list.
 
Roscoe ranked third on the team with eight total sacks to go along with 4.5 tackles for a loss and 33 total tackles. He finished second on the squad with six quarterback hurries.
 
A native of Houston, the sophomore got the season off with a bang with 4 ½ sacks through the first two games.
 
Sutton topped the Cowboys' receivers with 41 catches for 609 yards and three touchdowns. He ranked 15^th in the league in receiving yards, was 17^th with a 55.4 yards per game average, and 19^th with 3.7 receptions per game.
 
Four times this season the New Orleans native pulled in five catches or more in a game and recorded a career-high with 119 receiving yards on six catches against Northwestern State.
 
2018 Southland Conference Football Individual Superlative Winners

Coach of the Year: Eric Morris, Incarnate Word
Player of the Year: Chase Fourcade, Nicholls
Offensive Player of the Year: Jazz Ferguson, Northwestern State
Defensive Player of the Year: BJ Blunt, McNeese
Freshman of the Year: Jon Copeland, Incarnate Word
Co-Newcomer of the Year: Jordan Hoy, Lamar
Co-Newcomer of the Year: Billy McCrary, Abilene Christian
Offensive Lineman of the Year: Garrett Bowery, Lamar
 
2018 Southland Conference Football First Team All-Conference Offense

Pos.	Name	School	Class	Hometown
QB	Chase Fourcade	Nicholls	Jr.	Metairie, La.
RB	Ra'Quanne Dickens	Incarnate Word	Sr.	Seminole, Fla.
RB	Carlos Blackman2	Central Arkansas	Jr.	Gosnell, Ark.
TE/HB	Bransen Schwebel	Southeastern Louisiana	Jr.	Amite, La.
WR	Jazz Ferguson	Northwestern State	Jr.	St. Francisville, La.
WR	Davion Davis3	Sam Houston State	Sr.	Hutto, Texas
WR	Phillip Baptiste	Incarnate Word	Sr.	Ft. Worth, Texas
OL	Garrett Bowery	Lamar	Sr.	Union Grove, Texas
OL	Hunter Watts	Central Arkansas	Jr.	San Antonio, Texas
OL	Ryan Hanley2	Nicholls	Sr.	Metairie, La.
OL	Chandler Arceneaux3	Nicholls	Sr.	Bourg, La.
OL	Brandon Floores	Incarnate Word	Jr.	La Vernia, Texas
AP	Juwan Petit-Frere2	Southeastern Louisiana	Jr.	Orlando, Fla.
PK	Lorran Fonseca2	Nicholls	Sr.	Hercules, Calif.
P	Alex Kjellsten	McNeese	Sr.	Lake Charles, La.

 
2018 Southland Conference Football First Team All-Conference Defense

Pos.	Name	School	Class	Hometown
DL	Sully Laiche3	Nicholls	Jr.	Grammercy, La.
DL	Derick Roberson	Sam Houston State	Sr.	San Antonio, Texas
DL	Chris Terrell2	Central Arkansas	Jr.	Pensacola, Fla.
DL	Justin Alexandre	Incarnate Word	Sr.	Elmont, N.Y.
LB	BJ Blunt	McNeese	Sr.	New Orleans, La.
LB	Jeremiah Chambers	Abilene Christian	Jr.	Austin, Texas
LB	Evan Veron	Nicholls	Jr.	LaPlace, La.
DB	Davon Jernigan	Lamar	Sr.	Navasota, Texas
DB	Hayden Bourgeois	Northwestern State	So.	Church Point, La.
DB	Zyon McCollum	Sam Houston State	So.	Galveston, Texas
DB	Colby Burton	McNeese	Jr.	League City, Texas
DB	Juan Jackson	Central Arkansas	Jr.	Gardendale, Ala.
KR	Juwan Petit-Frere	Southeastern Louisiana	Jr.	Orlando, Fla.
PR	Devonte Williams	Southeastern Louisiana	Jr.	Columbia, Md.

 
2018 Southland Conference Football Second Team All-Conference Offense

Pos.	Name	School	Class	Hometown
QB	Jon Copeland	Incarnate Word	Fr.	Argyle, Texas
RB	Billy McCrary	Abilene Christian	Jr.	Austin, Texas
RB	Dontrell Taylor	Nicholls	Jr.	White Castle, La.
TE/HB	Cody Ennis	Abilene Christian	Sr.	San Antonio
WR	Nathan Stewart3	Sam Houston State	Jr.	Dallas, Texas
WR	Dai'Jean Dixon	Nicholls	So.	New Orleans, La.
WR	Juwan Petit-Frere	Southeastern Louisiana	Jr.	Orlando, Fla.
OL	Eddie Houston	Nicholls	Sr.	Newton, Miss.
OL	Terence Hickman II	Incarnate Word	Jr.	Converse, Texas
OL	Grant Burguillos	McNeese	Jr.	Mandeville, La.
OL	Bill Weber	Abilene Christian	Sr.	Coppell, Texas
OL	Dakota Laws	Abilene Christian	Sr.	Denton, Texas
AP	Cedric Battle	Central Arkansas	Sr.	Wichita Falls, Texas
PK	Jonathan Tatum	Southeastern Louisiana	Sr.	Alexandria, La.
P	Winston Jones	Nicholls	Jr.	Thibodaux, La.

 
2018 Southland Conference Football Second Team All-Conference Defense

Pos.	Name	School	Class	Hometown
DL	Chris Livings	McNeese	Jr.	Lake Charles, La.
DL	Daniel Crosley	Lamar	Jr.	DeRidder, La.
DL	Eric Jackson2	Central Arkansas	Sr.	Apopka, Fla.
DL	Erick Fowler	Sam Houston State	Jr.	Austin, Texas
LB	Silas Stewart	Incarnate Word	Sr.	Wilmington, Del.
LB	Allen Pittman3	Nicholls	Jr.	St. Rose, La.
LB	Tamarcus Russell	Southeastern Louisiana	Sr.	Dadeville, Ala.
DB	Darren Evans	Nicholls	So.	Baton Rouge, La.
DB	Ahmani Martin	Nicholls	Sr.	Reserve, La.
DB	Khristian Mims	Nicholls	Jr.	Baton Rouge, La.
DB	Bolu Onifade	Abilene Christian	Jr.	Oklahoma City, Okla.
DB	Alize Ward2	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	San Diego, Calif.
KR	Cedric Battle	Central Arkansas	Sr.	Wichita Falls, Texas
PR	Damion Jeanpierre, Jr.	Nicholls	Sr.	Kenner, La.

 
Honorable Mention: QB: Luke Anthony, Abilene Christian; Shelton Eppler, Northwestern State; Bailey Zappe, Houston BaptistRB: Darren Johnson, Southeastern Louisiana; Myles Wanza, Lamar; Kierre Crossley, Central Arkansas TE/HB: Case Robinson, Lamar. WR: Jaylen Watson, Northwestern State; Cyron Sutton, McNeese; Jakari Dillard, Central Arkansas; Jarreth Sterns, Houston Baptist; Damion Jeanpiere, Nicholls; Tamrick Pace, Stephen F. Austin; Kody Edwards, Incarnate Word. OL: P.J. Burkhalter, Nicholls; Frank Boudreaux, Northwestern State; Tristan Wendt, Sam Houston State; Pat Allen, Southeastern Louisiana; Kade Parmelly, Abilene Christian. AP: Ameer King, Incarnate Word. PK: Gunnar Raborn, McNeese. DL: Brandon Fontenot, Nicholls; Jon Miller, Southeastern Louisiana; Cody Roscoe, McNeese; Dante Hibbert, Abilene Christian; Ronald Ollie, Nicholls; Obi Iheoma, Northwestern State; Darrius Montgomery, Incarnate Word; Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund, Southeastern Louisiana; Cole Burgess, Abilene Christian. LB: Mar'kel Cooks, Incarnate Word; West Lambert, Incarnate Word; Jack Gibbens, Abilene Christian; Chaston Brooks, Lamar; Langston Tunson, Houston Baptist; Raphael Garner, Central Arkansas. DB: Aretavious Hendrix, Stephen F. Austin; Trenton Gordon, Stephen F. Austin; Adrian Contreras, Sam Houston State; Malick Phillips, Incarnate Word; Adonis Davis, Abilene Christian; Rodney Randle, Lamar; Robert Rochelle, Central Arkansas; Jackie Harvell, Central Arkansas; Xavier Lewis, Southeastern Louisiana; Louis Otis, Incarnate Word. KR: Myles Ward, Northwestern State.