College Notebook
NCCU’s Carl Jones named to AFCA All-American team
History continues to be made during N.C. Central’s 2016 gridiron campaign, as redshirt senior center Carl Jones was announced to the AFCA Football Championship Subdivision Coaches’ All-America Team on Monday, becoming the first Eagle named to the American Football Coaches Association All-America Team in 20 years and just the fifth NCCU student-athlete to ever earn the distinction.
A native of Nashville, Tenn., Jones has been voted to the AFCA All-America Second Team and as a repeat selection to All-MEAC First Team as the conference's top center. Entering the Celebration Bowl, the team captain recorded a team-best grade of 91 percent on blocking assignments with a team-high 65 pancake blocks, while only allowing one sack in 707 plays. Jones helped pave the way for a NCCU single-season record of 4,614 yards of total offense, averaging 384.5 total yards per game.
During his stellar NCCU career from 2013-16, Jones started 39 games, including 37 consecutive starts. The Eagles posted a record of 26-13 and won three straight conference championships with Jones as the starting center.
The last Eagle to make the AFCA All-America Team is linebacker Tommy Dorsey in 1996. NCCU was also represented on the AFCA All-America Team by quarterback Earl Harvey (1988), defensive end Charles Smith (1974), and lineman Doug Wilkerson (1968 and 1969).
Men’s Basketball
N.C. State: Freshman guard Dennis Smith Jr., has been named the ACC Freshman of the Week. The honor came following last week’s performances when Smith averaged 19.5 points, 7.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in two Wolfpack wins. Smith and his teammates return to action at 7 p.m. Thursday at PNC Arena when they host McNeese State.
Women’s Basketball
Shaw: Freshman Stephanie Custodio poured a game-high 19 points to help lift the Bears to a 64-53 victory over Florida Tech Monday to conclude the PBA Holiday Hoops Classic. The win snaps a six-game losing skid for the Bears as they improve to 3-10 while FIT falls to 6-5. The Bears will close out the 2016 slate with a road contest at Francis Marion on Dec. 29 at 4 p.m. for their nonconference finale.
N.C. State: Aislinn Konig has been named the ACC Rookie of the Week, the league office announced Monday. Konig averaged 20.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in contests against N.C. Central and Tulane last week. The freshman from British Columbia scored 26 points on 10-for-14 shooting in the win over N.C. Central and added 14 more in Saturday’s game at Tulane.
Men’s Soccer
N.C. State: New head coach George Kiefer has officially started the process of building his staff by announcing Jeff Negalha as his associate head coach and Kyle Nicholls as his assistant coach. Negalha comes to Raleigh with extensive collegiate coaching experience and strong ties within the state of North Carolina. Nicholls recently completed a successful collegiate playing career and was an assistant coach for a junior college national championship team and also has experience at the Division I level. Both Negalha and Nicholls have spent time with Kiefer in previous coaching roles.
Miscellaneous
Raleigh Sports Club: Cliff Godwin, head baseball coach at East Carolina, will be the special guest speaker at Wednesday’s meeting. The meeting will be held in Bradley Hall in Highland UMC, 1901 Ridge Rd. Doors open at 10:50 a.m. Buffet lines open at 11:30 a.m. and the meeting is noon until 1 p.m. Admission will be $15 for members and $25 for guests.
From news releases
This story was originally published December 19, 2016 at 11:30 PM with the headline "College Notebook."