DESTIN, Fla. (5/25/10) - The Sun Belt Conference announced Tuesday that Alex Carrington, a four-year football letterman at Arkansas State from 2006-09, has been named the league's 2009-10 Male Student-Athlete of the Year, marking the first time an ASU student-athlete has ever received the conference's most prestigious annual honor.
Carrington is one of several student-athletes from across the Sun Belt Conference that are being honored for their academic and athletic achievements at a banquet being held tonight during the league's annual spring meetings in Destin, Fla.
"We are thrilled for Alex to be honored and recognized with the top award given by the Sun Belt Conference," said ASU Director of Athletics Dr. Dean Lee. "His record, both academically and athletically, are well documented, and his character and integrity truly epitomize what you are looking for in a student-athlete. We are extremely proud of him and how he represents our athletic program."
"Alex has made a tremendous contribution to Arkansas State University, not only on the playing field, but also in the classroom and in the community," said ASU head football coach Steve Roberts. "We are very excited that he has received this outstanding honor, and that is a credit to his great character and the wonderful person that he is. Alex's many achievements, both on the field and off, as a leader on our football team have made a significant impact on our program."
Carrington, recently selected in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, can add this latest honor to his long list of accomplishments built during his five-year stay at ASU that began with his 2005 redshirt season and ended in December of 2009 when he graduated with his bachelor's degree in Psychology.
This past year alone, he was named First Team All-Sun Belt Conference, ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-District VI, Preseason SBC Defensive Player of the Year and the Little Rock Touchdown Club ASU Player of the Year. Additionally, he competed in the Senior Bowl and was named to the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, Lott Trophy Watch List, Lombardi Trophy Watch List and Ted Hendricks Award Watch List.
He has consistently been a member of the ASU Athletic Director's Honor Roll and the Sun Belt Conference Commissioner's List or Academic Honor Roll. He twice received the team's "I WILL" Award, issued to the player that best exemplifies the drive to succeed and to do everything necessary to make not only himself, but those around him better. This award is given to a player for conduct, classroom efforts and preparing to win.
A Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week selection in 2009, Carrington finished his senior campaign with nine sacks that tied the most of the season and the eighth most all-time by an ASU player. He also recorded a team-high 14.5 tackles for loss in 2009, which was the third most in the league. Carrington completed his career with 21.5 sacks for the second most ever by an ASU player and the fourth most in Sun Belt history, while also piling up 40.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage and 146 total tackles during his career with the Red Wolves.
The Tupelo, Miss. native had one of the most dominating seasons in the history of the Sun Belt Conference in 2008 when he was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year after recording 53 tackles, 10.5 sacks and one interception. He ranked tied for 14th in the nation in sacks and seventh in tackles for loss. His first of three consecutive all-conference seasons came in 2007 as a sophomore when he recorded 38 tackles and five tackles for loss on an ASU defense ranked No. 1 in the league.
In conjunction with this announcement, the Arkansas State Athletics Department will be posting a daily video interview (Wednesday through Friday) with Carrington on AStateRedWolves.com commemorating his time at ASU. The interviews, conducted by ASU Athletics' Director of Corporate Sales Brad Bobo, will touch on a variety of topics, including Carrington's thoughts on receiving the Sun Belt Conference Student-Athlete of the Year Award and earning his degree, some of his favorite moments at ASU and his first experiences as a member of the Buffalo Bills.
