FOOTBALL
Morgan a Walter Camp All-American
FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas linebacker Grant Morgan was named a second-team Walter Camp All-American on Thursday.
Morgan, a fifth-year senior from Greenwood, is the 16th Razorback to gain recognition from Walter Camp, the nation's oldest college football All-America team, and the first since tight end Hunter Henry in 2015.
Morgan recently announced that he was returning for 2021 as allowed by the NCAA due to the covid-19 pandemic this season.
Redshirt freshman safety Jalen Catalon earned third-team recognition on the annual Phil Steele All-America team, while sophomore wideout Treylon Burks was named an honorable mention.
Steele named Catalon and Morgan to his All-SEC first team, while Burks was second-team, senior Jonathan Marshall was a third-teamer and senior guard Ty Clary was fourth team.
Morgan is tied for the FBS lead with 12.3 tackles per game and ranks second with 111 tackles. He was a finalist for the Burlsworth Trophy, awarded on Monday to PItt center Jimmy Morrissey as the nation's top player who began his career as a walk-on.
Burks is fourth in the SEC and 18th in the nation with 820 receiving yards. He tied for sixth in the FBS with six games of 90-plus receiving yards and his career-best 206 receiving yards against Missouri was the third best single-game performance by an Arkansas receiver.
Catalon was the only FBS player with 95-plus tackles and three interceptions and the first SEC player since Tennessee's Eric Berry to have at least 86 tackles and three interceptions.
Marshall was the only Razorback defender to start all 10 games, and he posted 35 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and a sack. The senior captain led the SEC in run-defense grade (80.8) and run stops according to Pro Football Focus (PFF) College.
Clary overcame an illness in camp to play in the final eight games, including starts in the last seven games. He had a 74.7 run-blocking grade by PFF to rank in the top 25 offensive linemen in the SEC with 400 or more snaps.
-- Tom Murphy
ASU confirms Hauser, Hilliard hirings
Arkansas State University formally announced the hirings of special teams coordinator Steve Hauser and secondary coach Dalton Hilliard on Thursday.
Hauser comes to the Red Wolves following three seasons as a special teams and quality control assistant at Iowa State.
After starting for three seasons at Wesleyan University, Hauser served as a coach at Mount Ida (Mass.), Yale and held two separate stints at Oklahoma State before joining the Cyclones in 2018. Hauser also spent two seasons in the NFL working in the personnel department of the Cleveland Browns in 2014 and 2015.
This past season, Hauser was part of an Iowa State coaching staff that led the Cyclones to a Fiesta Bowl victory over Oregon on Jan. 2.
Hilliard arrives at ASU after two seasons at Tennessee-Martin, where he served as defensive passing game coordinator for both seasons and secondary coach in 2020. From 2015-18, he served as an assistant at UCLA, where he played 41 games as a safety from 2009-12 before signing as an undrafted free agent with the Chicago Bears and later playing professionally in Italy.
Red Wolves pick up Power 5 transfer
Louisville transfer linebacker Thurman Geathers committed to Arkansas State on Thursday.
Geathers appeared in six games and made four tackles for the Cardinals in 2020 before opting out of the season on Nov. 2. The 6-foot-3 defender from Acworth, Ga., played in all 13 of Louisville's games as a redshirt freshman in 2019.
With his commitment, Geathers became the fourth transfer to join the Red Wolves since Butch Jones' hiring on Dec. 12, along with TCU's Tevailance Hunt, Yale's Alan Lamar and Boise State's Khyheem Waleed.
-- Eli Lederman
BASKETBALL
Lyon women win season opener
Senior Jade Giron scored a career-high 33 points Thursday to lead the Lyon College women to a 68-52 victory over Hannibal-LaGrange in Hannibal, Mo.
Giron started and finished the game strong, scoring five of the Scots' first seven points and scoring the final seven points of the game. Her 33 points were four shy of tying the school's single-game record of 37, held by K.K. Hodges, who accomplished the feat in February 2008.
Mari-Hanna Newsom had 11 points for Lyon, while Paige Kelley added 10.
-- Democrat-Gazette Press Services