STARKVILLE — Awards season is upon us.
Monday morning, Mississippi State junior running back Kylin Hill and senior defensive end Chauncey Rivers were named to the Associated Press’ All-SEC first and second teams, respectively.
Hill, a Columbus native, finished the regular season as the SEC’s leading rusher after accumulating 1,347 yards and 10 touchdowns in 12 games of action. He also finished second in the conference in rush yards per game with an average of 112.25 yards per contest.
At present, Hill sits just 44 yards shy of Anthony Dixon’s single-season MSU rushing record of 1,391 yards — a number the former Columbus High School standout should reach in the Bulldogs’ meeting with Louisville Dec. 30 in the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee.
“Every time I talk to him we talk about this maturation period he’s going through right now,” MSU running backs coach Terry Richardson said of Hill during preseason camp. “He just had his 21st birthday, (leadership) is something we talk about. We practice it and preach it because not only are we teaching these guys football, we’re teaching them to be better men — and I think he’s buying into that and you’re seeing the results of that.”
Rivers, a former East Mississippi Community College standout, was also honored Monday. After beginning his collegiate career at Georgia, he finished the regular season at MSU with 40 tackles — 7.5 for a loss — and five sacks.
“He can run like a deer he’s so dag gum athletic,” EMCC coach Buddy Stephens said of Rivers earlier this year. “From the first time you saw him do a pass-rush drill you knew he had a lot of agility and he had a lot of quick twitch in his muscles.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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