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Football Lands Five on Athlon Sports Preseason All-AAC Teams
Jun 23, 2016 | Football
Smart and Marley earn first team honors while Hilliard and Taylor are on second team and Nickerson is on fourth team
June 14, 2016
NEW ORLEANS – The preseason accolades for Tulane football have begun to roll in, as five players have been named to Athlon Sports Preseason All-American Athletic Conference teams, announced the publication late Monday.
Tanzel Smart and Nico Marley grace the first team, while Dontrell Hilliard and Chris Taylor were named to the second team and Parry Nickerson is on the fourth team.
Smart started all 12 games last year, claiming All-American Athletic Conference First Team honors as voted on by the league coaches in media. The native of Baton Rouge totaled 62 tackles (42 solo, 20 assists), 15.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Like Smart, Marley also started as 12 games last year in addition to being named to the All-American Athletic Conference First Team. Marley posted 82 tackles (62 solo, 20 assists) with 13.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack, one forced fumble and one interception.
Hilliard appeared in all 12 games as a sophomore in 2015, making two starts. The Baton Rouge native led the Green Wave ground attack with 646 yards on 115 carries (5.6 avg.) to go along with six touchdowns. Hilliard also hauled in 23 passes for 267 yards (11.6 avg.) and one score.
Taylor started all 12 games in 2015 at right guard, helping the offense average 317.0 yards of offense per game (201.2 passing, 115.8 rushing). Taylor paved the way for 530 total yards of offense vs. Tulsa while also blocking for a 497-yard effort vs. Maine. The senior was also responsible for Tulane's 200-yard rushing attack at SMU.
Nickerson started all 12 games as a sophomore in 2015, racking up 46 tackles (41 solo, 5 assists) with 3.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, eight pass break-ups and one blocked kick.
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