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mat1992

All-time football team

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Spiro's list from TowsonTigers.com. I had one up somewhere. Must be on the old site. I almost think you have to leave out D3 players and maybe D2. But you can say the same thing about all-time lax teams or all-time basketball teams. Do you leave out the late Jim Darcangelo in Lax or Pat McKinley (NBA draft pick) in hoops?

Offense

 
OL- Jermon Bushrod. Along with Sean Landeta and Dave Meggett, the most successful athlete in Towson football history. First team All-Patriot League in 2006. Just a dominant left tackle who would go on to win a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints.

OL- Karl Nieberlein. Part of one of the best offensive lines in school history. Third team All-American in 1993. Karl anchored a line that could block the run or the pass with great efficiency. You weren't getting past him.

OL- Eric Pike. As good as Nieberlein's line was in the early 90s, Pike's line in the early 2010s was right there with them. Eric was a first team All-American during the Tigers' run to the national championship in 2013.

OL- Randall Harris. First team All-CAA in 2012 and 2013. Along with Pike, helped Terrance West shatter the Towson rushing record book. This line, like the one in the early 90s, could run or pass block with the best of them. Harris was a major reason why.

OL- Doug Shaw. Third team All-CAA in 2013. Did not get the accolades others did, but as the center on that national championship runner up team, all you heard from coaches and teammates was how Shaw was the glue that held them together.

I have to admit. Doing the offensive linemen was not easy. If we are all being honest here, they are probably the group you watch the least. Once that ball is snapped your eyes go elsewhere. Of course we watch them the least, but it's probably the most important group on the football field.

TE- Hernando Mejia - H, as he was known, and I were classmates at Towson. When he graduated in 1983, he was tied for third on the Tigers all-time receiving list with 94 career receptions. Now, he isn't even in the top 20. There have been many tight ends for the Tigers who were very good at blocking. But none who could block and catch like H. Over the years, throwing to the tight end has not been a major part of the Towson playbook, but when you had a guy like Hernando Mejia, it had to be.

WR- Mark Orlando. Though he graduated 26 years ago, but he is still the Towson all-time leader in receiving yards with 3,460. Still the all-time leader in receiving touchdowns with 31 and averaged 19.4 yards per reception. Every time the ball was thrown his way, six points were in play. He caught a TD on 17.5 percent of his receptions.

WR- Jamal White. Second all-time in receptions, second all-time in yardage and third all-time in TD receptions. First team All-Patriot league in 2002. He was as dependable as they get. Great hands and a great ability to get open. Part of the greatest passing year in Towson history, 1999. Tigers threw for 4,193 yards.

RB- Terrance West. Put together the greatest rushing in year in FCS history in 2013. Rushed for 2,509 yards and scored 41 touchdowns. All-time leader in rushing yards, rushing attempts and rushing touchdowns. Explosive. Great vision. Winner of the first ever Jerry Rice Award in 2011, given to the top FCS freshman in the country. His performance against Eastern Illinois in the FCS playoffs may be the greatest performance I have ever seen. Ran for 354 yards in the snow. YouTube that game. It's unreal.

RB- Tony Vinson. Two-year player for the Tigers after transferring from Purdue. Holds the NCAA record for most yards rushing in a game with 364 against Bucknell in 1993. The following week, he rushed for 324 against Morgan, and he was pulled from the game midway through the THIRD QUARTER. Great speed. And like TWest, had power to go along with it. Had he been at Towson four years, his numbers would have been obscene.

QB- Tie Dan Crowley and Sean Schaefer. I just could not put one above the other. So I went to the only man who coached them both through their entire careers, Gordy Combs. I asked him the first thing that came to his mind when he thinks of the two.

"Dan Crowley was the greatest competitor I have ever seen." That competitor threw for 8,900 career yards, and is still the Tigers' all-time leader in touchdown passes with 81. Led Towson to back to back 8-2 seasons. His numbers would be even gaudier if he didn't have two 1,000 yard rushers in the backfield in Tony Vinson and Brian McCarty. Probably the greatest arm in Towson history.

Combs on Sean Schaefer. "I never saw Sean sweat. He was always calm. As good as a player as he was, he was a better teammate." Schaefer is the Tigers' all-time leader in passing yards with 11,644. He is second all-time in touchdown passes with 76.

Both of these guys were just outstanding on and off the field. Dan is now a Senior Associate Athletic Director at Towson. The school could not ask for a better ambassador. I am proud to call him a friend.

Sean followed in his father's footsteps and is a firefighter. A nicer guy has never put on a Towson uniform.

KR- Derrick Joseph. When Rob Ambrose took over as head coach in 2009, it had been 14 years since Towson had had a kickoff returned for a touchdown. He promised me it wouldn't be long. I can't tell you how many times during a broadcast as the Tigers got set to return a kick, I said "Maurice Sydnor was the last Tiger to return a kick for a touchdown against Butler in 1995."

Finally, on November 12, 2011, Derrick Joseph stopped that drought against New Hampshire. He would do it three more times during his stellar career. He was a second team All-American in 2011. Boy could he move.

FG- Aidan O'Neill 2018 First team All-American. All-time school leader with 64 field goals, top-10 in FCS history, and all-time leader in field goal percentage at .727. His freshman year in 2016, he hit a 55 yard field goal on the last play of the game to beat Rhode Island.
 
Defense

DL- Frank Beltre. 2011 and 2012 First Team All-CAA. Great at disrupting things. When the Tigers were ready to reveal their new uniforms in 2012, they took a mold of Frank's body to model the new unis. Led the Tigers in sacks in 2011 and 2012.

DL- Ryan Delaire. Second team All-American in 2014, First team All-CAA in 2013 and 2014. Major part of the Tigers' national championship runner-up team in 2013.

DL- Andrew Hollingsworth - How is this: Led the team in sacks in all four of his seasons, including a team record 18 in 2000. Tigers all-time leader in sacks with 43. First Team All-Patriot league in 1999 and 2000. First Team All-American in 2000.

DL- Rodney Smith. Eighth on the Tigers' all-time tackle list and third on the Tigers' all-time sack list. He is a member of the Tiger Hall of Fame. Second Team All-American in 1989. Son has also played at Towson.

LB- Mike Arbutina. Second all-time in tackles. Led the team in tackles three straight seasons. The Tigers were an independent until they joined the Patriot League in 1997. So Mike and any others who played before them were not part of any all-conference teams. He was a stud on those Tiger defenses that went 8-2 in both 1993 and 1994.

LB- Jeff Boller. He was your prototypical middle linebacker. Classmate of mine. All-time leading tackler in school history with 382. Had school record of 127 until Telvion Clark broke it with 145 in 2013. Boller did his in 11 games, Clark in 16. So in 1982 Jeff averaged 11.6 tackles per game!! If you got near him, you weren't getting past him.

LB- P.D. Moore. Led team in tackles in 2004 with 111. Third team All-American in 2004. First Team All-Patriot League in 2002 and 2003, First team All-Atlantic 10 in 2004. Gordy Combs loves him and would never talk to me again if he was excluded. Great player, Great Guy, Towson Hall of Famer.

LB- Bobby Poist. Second all-time in sacks with 31. Had school record of 17 until broken by Hollingsworth. Leader of the greatest defensive team in school history. Think about this: The 1983 Tiger defense only gave up 88 points in 12 games. They had four shutouts!! Poist was a major part of their success. 1983 team was first Division II team in school history to make the playoffs.

CB- Jabari Garrett. Shut down corner who was First Team All-Patriot league in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Helped lead the Tigers into the Patriot League. Stats aren't gaudy because teams stayed away from throwing his way. You who else had stats that weren't gaudy? The wide receivers who went up against him.

CB- Tye Smith. First team All-American in 2014. Another shut down corner who doesn't have big stats because teams stayed away from him. Key defensive player on 2013 national championship runner-up team. Has had a nice NFL career with Tennessee.

S- Jordan Dangerfield. He may be the hardest hitting player in Towson history. You could make a chilling highlight reel of the licks he put on guys. First Team All-American in 2011, Second Team All-American in 2012. Transferred from Hofstra after they dropped the program. Has been a long time member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

S- Gary Rubeling. Greatest ball hawk in Towson history. 25 career interceptions. Three times he intercepted three passes in a game. He has 12 interceptions against number two on the list Khalid McLeod. Think about this. Gary had 13 interceptions in 1983. McLeod is second all-time in school history with 13 in his career. First Team All-American in 1983.

P- Sean Landeta. This was the easiest pick I had to make. No one is even close. As a matter of fact, there are not many schools period who ever had a punter like Sean. His punting numbers were mindboggling. Take a look at his NFL numbers. Just as mindboggling. First Team All-American in 1982. Should be in the NFL Hall of Fame. Averaged 42 yards per punt as a Tiger.

PR- David Meggett. Probably the most exciting player ever to put on a Tiger uniform. Walter Payton Award winner. He was a triple threat. Running back, kick returner and punt returner. I believe he is still the only player in college history to be a captain at two different schools, Towson and Morgan State. David could also have been my all-time best kick return man, and also could have been one of my all-time running backs. If you didn't see him, you have no idea how good he was. He and Sean Landeta were All-Pros and Super Bowl champions with the New York Giants.

 

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Missing a fullback. I'd probably go with Emmanuel Holder or John Swigart. Have watched since 1989, so I didn't see Meggett, Rubeling, Poist, etc.

Offensive line. Spiro went with top five players regardless of position. If we just went with top left tackle, it's Bushrod, Nieberlein and Pike. Harris at right tackle. Jason Gunning and maybe Gryzmkowski at guard after he finishes.

But O-line very tough aside from the obvious one. I never thought Tye Smith was great in college. He was good but never expected him to be a solid NFL player. Dangerfield was a beast. Though Chad Scott was better, but he ended up at Maryland after two seasons. You just saw that he was too good for the competition. 

Mark Orlando great receiver. Jamal White had one great year. But the number two receiver is maybe the most difficult selection. You could go with Mike Smith, Marcus Lee, maybe even Leatherbury or eventually Jabari Allen. 

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I would put Konstantions Kosmakos (Gus) at Center. He was a beast. Played with Bushrod. You have to put Gary Rubeling on this list. He had 9 Interceptions in 1982 and 13 interceptions in 1983 and 25 for his career. The best in the Defensive backfield to ever play at TU.

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Jamal White dropped too many easy passes (quite a few of which would have gone for easy touchdowns) to be on my list. 

Crowley was very good, but I consider Grant Enders, with his ability to escape pressure and run, as the No. 1. Schaeffer was a terrific passer, but didn't sense pressure and took a fair number of sacks.

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