Hawks’ Robinson named top defensive freshman
♦ Senior lineman Terrence Snellings earns a spot on the all-conference second team.
The Shorter football team got to celebrate another long overdue victory this season when the Gulf South Conference announced its annual football awards recently.
Hawks linebacker Xavier Robinson was selected as the conference’s Defensive Freshman of the Year, making him the first Shorter
player to be named Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year — either offensive or defensive.
In addition to Robinson, senior defensive lineman Terrence Snellings was named Defensive SecondTeam All-gulf South Conference. Both honors cap a season highlighted by a 37-7 Shorter victory over Allen on Nov. 9 that ended a 48-game losing streak for the Hawks.
It also gave second-year head coach Zach Morrison his first career win.
The former Hawk offensive lineman noted the work ethic of both players who were recognized.
“These two have been leaders on and off the field and have bought into the team culture, and pride themselves on getting one percent better every day,” Morrison said.
“We have talked as a team about Galatians 6:9. ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ Xavier and Terrance are reaping the harvest because they gave continuous great effort throughout the season and we are so proud of their accomplishments.”
Robinson finished the 2019 campaign with 79 total tackles, which led Shorter and was good for third-best in the Gulf South Conference. When the Hawks traveled to West Georgia, Robinson was all over the field, racking up 13 tackles, with was the second-best single-game total in the conference this season.
Snellings put together one of the best seasons in Shorter history behind the line of scrimmage, finishing tied for second in the conference with 14.5 tackles for a loss. He also tallied 6.5 sacks, which tied for third best in the conference. The Columbia High School product forced four fumbles this season which tied him for the tops in the conference.
Also receiving votes for the Hawks for the all-conference list were former Rome High standout Nemo Reddish, Jeffrey Brewer, Nicolas Pope and Tupac Lanier.
Coach Morrison is optimistic about the future of the program with players like these coming back and making an impact on and off the field.