Four Weevils Garner Conference Honors

All-Conference - John L. Williams breaks tackle. Williams earned GSC All-Conference Second Team honors for his performance during his senior year.

When the University of Arkansas-Monticello head coach Gwaine Mathews signed Scott Buisson to a national letter of intent last spring, he told anyone who would listen that the diminutive quarterback from Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie, La., was “the real deal.”

   Buisson lived up to Mathews’ expectations and then some, shattering UAM freshman records for passing and total offense in 2007. The rest of the Gulf South Conference also took notice. The league’s coaches recently named Buisson the GSC Freshman of the Year.

   Buisson was one of four Boll Weevils receiving GSC postseason honors. Center Justin Waltz was UAM’s only selection to the All-GSC first team while tailback John L. Williams and fullback Andrew Martin were named second team All-GSC.

   Buisson threw for 2,359 yards, smashing the previous UAM freshman single season record of 1,521 set by Kevin McCarn in 1997. McCarn is the only other UAM player to earn GSC Freshman of the Year honors.

   Buisson’s numbers included 17 touchdowns passing, a completion percentage of .575, and a 115.8 quarterback rating. He added 567 yards and six touchdowns rushing and accounted for 2,926 yards total offense, obliterating McCarn’s freshman record of 1,683. Buisson’s total offense numbers represent the third best season in UAM history and his 2,359 passing yards were good enough for fifth best in the school record books.

   “Scott was amazing all season, especially for a freshman,” Mathews said. “And he’s just going to get better and better.”

   Waltz, a senior center from New Boston, Texas, anchored a Boll Weevil offensive line that paved the way for the second best rushing attack in the GSC, which accounted for 436.8 yards a game in total offense.

   Williams led the GSC in rushing until his season ended prematurely with a knee injury at West Georgia in a game in which he broke the UAM single-game rushing record with 275 yards. The senior from Gainesville, Fla., finished the season with 876 yards and his UAM career with 2,463, the sixth best career total in school history.

   Martin, a 5-11, 242-pound sophomore fullback from Cantonment, Fla., led the way for Williams and was recognized by the league’s coaches as a blocking back.

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©The Voice 2007
Revised 09/17/2007 09:07:11 PM — http://www.uamont.edu/Organizations/TheVoice/5_11/honors.htm