Four JuCo Players Sign With USA
The University of South Alabama head football coach Joey Jones announced that four junior college transfers have signed on to play football.
Of the four, two of them were named first-team National Junior College Athletic Association All-Americans this fall. They signed National Letter-of-Intents on Wednesday.
Braedon Bowman, Jimmie Gipson III, Nigel Green and Demarius Rancifer will all enroll prior to the start of the spring semester and will all have two years of eligibility. Three of the four come from programs that finished in the top 10 of the final NJCAA Top 10 poll including one from JuCo National Champion East Mississippi CC.
Bowman, a 6’4″ 210-pound tight end from Mesa, AZ, was named a first-team All-American as well as a first-team All-Western States Football League and All-Arizona Community College Athletic Conference. He helped Scottsdale (AZ) CC to a 10-1 record on the season and ranked 4th in the final NJCAA poll. He recorded team-high totals with 66 receptions for 1,030 yards, 13 touchdowns and 78 points as his team won the WSFL title and the Valley of the Sun Bowl after falling in their first game of the season. Bowman caught a season-best nine passes for 142 yards and matched his reception total in the WSFL championship contest against Mesa (AZ) CC. He also had three other games where he went over 100 yards receiving.
Gipson III, a 6′ 255-pound defensive end/outside linebacker is a native of Coldwater, MS, was also chosen a first-team All-American after leading the NJCAA with 17 sacks and helping EMCC to a national title. They defeated previously top-ranked Georgia Military JC 52-32 in the Mississippi Bowl to finish the season 12-0. He was a first-team All-Region selection as he totaled 65 tackles, 24 of them for a loss. He was named his teams Defensive MVP in the national championship as he tallied eight tackles including four sacks. He was also named the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) North Division Defesnive Line MVP. During his senior season in high school, he helped his team go 15-0 to win the state 6A Championship.
Green, a 6’1″ 160-pound safety, was credited with 83 tackles in two seasons at Mississippi Gulf Coast CC as they went 17-4 during those two seasons. They finished ninth in the final NJCAA poll with an 8-2 record after finishing the 2012 season 9-2 an finishing ranked 6th in the final poll. He posted 41 total tackles as a sophomore.
Rancifer, a 6’4″ 205-pound inside linebacker from Pensacola, FL., had a team-high 66 tackles including eight tackles for loss to earn his first All-State South Division. He spent two years at Kentucky, sitting out as a redshirt before playing in 11 games in 2012.
South Alabama finished tied for third in the Sun Belt Conference standings, had 10 student-athletes earning all-conference recognition and head coach Joey Jones was named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year.
“As we neared the end of the season, we realized we needed some individuals to replace our outside linebacker/defensive line players,” stated Jones. “We always need to recruit really good guys in the secondary, they are very hard to find, and we needed another tight end because Wes [Saxton] is going to be a senior and we wanted someone to come in and help with two tight-end sets who will also be back the following year.”