INDIANAPOLIS --- The Tusculum College football team continues to be listed in this week's NCAA Division II statistics. The Pioneers (3-8, 2-5 SAC) have ended the regular season and are currently ranked in five team categories, while six TC players are listed individually in this week's statistical report.
Tusculum ended the regular season ranked second in the country in pass defense, allowing 140.64 yards per game. Shaw University is currently first in the land, allowing 140.40 passing yards per contest.
TC is also seventh in the country in passing offense, posting 311 yards per contest. The Pioneers are looking to finish in the top-10 in passing for a fourth consecutive year. Since joining the South Atlantic Conference in 1999, the Pioneers have been ranked in the top-15 in passing for nine of the 13 seasons they have been in the league.
Tusculum is also ranked fifth in fumble recoveries (17), 29th in team kickoff return average (22.39) and 42nd in pass efficiency (137.38).
Two-time All-SAC First Team wide receiver Deonte Gist is listed in five categories, including receptions per game where he is second in the nation at 8.1 catches per contest. The 2010 consensus All-American is eighth in kickoff return average at 29.43 yards per return, which is also tops in the SAC and the second best average in Tusculum single-season history. The Wellford, S.C. senior is 164.2 all-purpose yards per game average is 12th in the country, while he is 24th in receiving yards per game (90 ypg) and 31st in total receiving yards (900).
All-Conference receiver Rashaad Carter is listed in three statistical categories, including 11th in total receptions yards (1,056), 14th in receiving yards per game (96 ypg) and 25th in receptions per game (6.36 rpg). Carter, a senior from Stone Mountain, Ga., has become the first player in school history to post 1,000 receiving yards in multiple seasons during his career. He will also leave Tusculum as its all-time leader in career receiving yards with 2,928 for the seventh most in SAC history.
Carter and Gist established a NCAA II record this year for the most career receptions by two players from the same team. Carter (210) and Gist (207) combined for 417 catches between them from 2008-2011.
All-SAC punter Andy Rosetti (Kenneth City, Fla.) is listed 25th in the country in punting average at 40.12 yards per punt, which is third in the league. Rosetti's average is the eighth-best in Tusculum single-season history.
Rookie placekicker Logan Cornelius is 30th in the land in field goals per game, averaging 1.00 per outing. He finished the season as Tusculum's leading scorer with 68 points for the fourth-most kicking points in school history. The Chattanooga, Tenn. freshman connected on 11 field goals for the fourth-most by a Tusculum kicker. He went 35-for-36 on extra points for the best PAT average in the league. Cornelius began his collegiate career making his first 28 consecutive extra point attempts.
Two-time All-Conference defensive end Terrence Smith is 23rd in the country in sacks per game, averaging 0.82 an outing. The College Park, Ga. senior leads the SAC with 10 tackles this season, including a school single-game record four in the 38-20 win over Wingate in TC's season-finale. The four-sack effort is currently the eighth-best this year in Division II.
Sophomore defensive lineman Nick Smith is tied for 31st in the nation with his 0.27 fumble recoveries per game. On the year, the Seymour, Tenn. sophomore has recovered three fumbles, while also blocking a school record seven kicks this year.
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