SCAC Announces 2008 All-Conference Football Team

SUWANEE, Ga. - After a season in which Millsaps College ran roughshod through the league with a perfect 10-0 regular season mark (7-0 in conference) and managed an average margin victory of 31 points, the Majors were awarded for their dominance with today's announcement of the 2008 All-SCAC Football team.

In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, Millsaps racked up on the major awards as quarterback Juan Joseph was selected as the league's Offensive Player-of-the-Year for the third consecutive season, first-year running back Shane Bowser was named Co-Newcomer-of-the-Year, receiver/return specialist Michael Galatas earned the league's Special Teams Player-of-the-Year award and head coach Mike DuBose was named SCAC Coach-of-the-Year.

In that same balloting, Mason Mosby of Rhodes College was voted the league's Defensive Player-of-the-Year and Tyler Osterman of Centre College shared Newcomer-of-the-Year honors with Bowser.

Juan Joseph, a 6-2, 188-pound senior quarterback from Edgard, La., is the first player in SCAC history to earn the league's Offensive POTY award three times. A three-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week during the season (giving him nine awards for this career), Joseph has completed 270 of 403 passes for 3,130 yards with 31 touchdowns against just six interceptions through the first round of the NCAA playoffs. He was a two-time D3football.com Team of the Week honoree this season and had five 300-yard+ passing games, which included a school-record six TD passing performance against Rhodes. His 2008 passing yardage total is the third-most in a single season in league history and his TD passing total is tied for fourth. For his career, Joseph is the league's all-time leader in total offense (9,467 yards) and is second in passing yards (8,962) - just 46 yards from the SCAC record. His 86 career touchdown passes ranks third on the league's all-time charts.

Joseph received eight votes in the Offensive POTY voting with Chris Baer of Trinity University receiving the remaining vote.

Mason Mosby, a 6-0, 210-pound senior linebacker from Hernando, Miss., led the SCAC in both tackles (118) and tackles per game (13.1) this season. Through the end of the regular season, Mosby was second in the nation in both solo and total tackles per game. The SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week in Week 2, Mosby finished the season with 66 solo and 52 assisted tackles and forced three fumbles. He also had four sacks, seven tackles for loss and two interceptions. Mosby is the second consecutive Defensive Player- of-the-Year selection from Rhodes, following teammate and fellow linebacker Desmond Hendricks.

Mosby received three votes in the Defensive POTY balloting to nose out Chalankis Brown of Sewanee-University of the South, Adam Hay of Centre and Marcus Harris of Millsaps who each received two votes.

Shane Bowser, a 5-8, 190-pound first-year running back from Pass Christian, Miss., has a team-high 10 combined touchdowns for the Majors (five rushing, five receiving) this season, which includes the first score of Saturday's 51-26 NCAA First Round victory over LaGrange (Ga.) College. He has 60 points scored on the season (second on the team), and is averaging 60.4 all-purpose yards per game (third on the team). He also has 12 tackles on special teams. Bowser leads all Millsaps running backs in rushing yards (340) and touchdowns (10).

Tyler Osterman, a 6-1, 180-pound first-year quarterback from Monroe, Ohio, led Centre to a 5-1 record after he became the team's starter. Osterman completed 108 of 174 passes for 1,206 yards and 10 touchdowns, and also rushed 82 times for 222 yards and three more scores. His 158.7 yards of total offense per game was good for fourth in the SCAC and he also punted six times for an average of 38.8 yards. Osterman's poise and leadership provided the team a rallying point as the Colonels finished 7-3 (5-2 in the SCAC), which included a 26-17 victory over then #16 Trinity.

Bowser and Osterman each received four votes in the NOTY balloting. Al Furlow of Trinity received the remaining vote.

Michael Galatas, a 5-9, 159-pound receiver/kick returner from Lacombe, La., had both a punt return (49 yards) and kick return (71 yards) for touchdown, becoming the first Millsaps player to perform that feat since 2006. He is currently third in the league in kick return average (23.6 yards per return) and has six kick returns of 30+ yards. Galatas was twice named the SCAC Special Teams Player-of-the-Week this season. As a receiver, Galatas was selected First Team All-SCAC after catching 33 passes for 589 yards and four touchdowns.

Galatas garnered five votes in the Special Teams Player-of-the-Year voting. Jordan Havercamp of DePauw University received two votes, and David Langston of Birmingham-Southern College and Caleb Urban of Trinity received one vote each.

After guiding Millsaps to its third playoff bid in school history and second in three years, Mike DuBose was selected by his peers as SCAC Coach-of-the-Year. He also won the honor in 2006. The Majors ran the table in 2008, posting a perfect 10-0 regular season mark - the school's first unbeaten season since 1980 and first-ever 10-win campaign. In three seasons, DuBose is 19-1 all-time in SCAC games; 26-6 overall. Millsaps is currently riding a 13-game win streak, which ties a school record for most consecutive wins and is the longest current streak in all of Division III. The Majors improved to 11-0 on Saturday with a 51-26 victory over LaGrange (Ga.) College in the first round of the NCAA Football Playoffs.

DuBose captured eight votes in the COTY balloting. Andy Frye of Centre received the remaining vote.

To view the complete 2008 All-SCAC Football Team release, click here.