Rock Hill, S.C.----The Wingate University football team placed seven players on the 2009 All-South Atlantic Conference teams announced this week. The Bulldogs had three first-team selections and four second-team picks.

Wingate redshirt senior offensive lineman Ben Benshoof (Huntersville, N.C.) leads three Bulldogs on the first team. Sophomore running back Vince Jordan (Mt. Gilead, N.C.) joins Benshoof on the first team offense. Wide receiver Perry Floyd (Gastonia, N.C.) earned All-SAC first team laurels as a return specialist. Benshoof, Jordan and Floyd earn All-SAC honors for the first time in their respective careers.

Bulldog senior tight end Ryan Webber (Concord, N.C.) earns All-SAC second team honors for the second year in a row. Wingate redshirt junior Delric Ellington (Charlotte, N.C.) joins his receiving mate on the second team. Ellington is a first-time honoree. Two All-SAC newcomers earn defensive recognitions. Senior defensive back Tylan Merkerson (Oxford, Ga.) and redshirt senior linebacker Aaron Plyler (Monroe, N.C.) complete Wingate’s All-SAC list.

Ben Benshoof has not allowed a sack this season. He has averaged an 89 percent pass blocking efficiency. Benshoof has allowed only one QB pressure this season. An offensive captain and three-year starter for the Bulldogs, Benshoof and his teammates helped Wingate average 395.3 total offense yards per game this season. In 2008, Benshoof helped Wingate place second in the SAC (and ninth in the NCAA) in passing offense with 238.4 yards per game.

Vince Jordan finished his sophomore season with 967 yards rushing yards and 12 touchdowns as the West Montgomery High graduate averaged 6.2 yards per carry. Jordan started the year out on a roll, registering 215 yards and three touchdowns in the season opening win over West Georgia. He also contributed two-touchdown games at Catawba and Mars Hill. The Mount Gilead, N.C. native finished the 2009 season with 1,068 all-purpose yards.

Perry Floyd earns first team All-SAC for his multi-dimensional skills as a wide receiver and kick returner in 2009. Floyd finished his junior year with 32 receptions for 389 yards. As a kick returner, Floyd averaged 30.4 yards per kick return and contributed 289 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns (one kick return and two receiving) at Lenoir-Rhyne. Thanks to Floyd’s heroics, the Bulldogs posted a 50-49 come-from-behind victory over the LRU Bears. Floyd finished the year with 1,105 all-purpose yards.

Ryan Webber received second team All-SAC honors as a tight end for his efforts in the 2009 season. Webber finished his senior year with 20 catches for 191 yards and one touchdown. The Jay M. Robinson graduate had a season high four receptions for 45 yards in Wingate’s season-opening win over West Georgia. Webber capped the year with his touchdown reception at Mars Hill in the season finale.

Delric Ellington earned a place on the All-SAC second team for his performance during the 2009 season. Ellington finished as Wingate’s top receiver with 47 receptions for 558 yards. The junior posted three 100-yard receiving games, topped by a five-reception, 114-yard and one-touchdown game in the season finale at Mars Hill.

Tylan Merkerson posted 58 tackles and two sacks during his senior campaign, garnering second team All-SAC honors. The safety and defensive captain contributed a forced fumble, fumble recovery and three interceptions in 10 games for the Bulldogs.

The Oxford, Ga. native teamed with freshman Robert Fletcher to lead an ultra-talented Wingate secondary. Merkerson’s two interceptions in the end zone twice snubbed out Pioneer scoring opportunities and helped the Bulldogs secure a 42-31 road victory over Tusculum in the 2009 SAC opener.

A local product out of Piedmont High School, Aaron Plyler came back from an injury that forced him to miss the entire 2008 season. The redshirt senior captain and anchor for the Bulldog linebacker corps finished the year with 63 tackles.

Plyler had 7.5 tackles for loss. He had a season-high 12 tackles as well as a quarterback hurry in a 28-12 win over Brevard. Plyler posted sacks of nine yards each in conference road victories over Tusculum and Mars Hill.

WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.

Wingate offers more than 40 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education, fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.

Bulldog student-athletes compete in 17 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past three years.

Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 34 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 43 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.

(Wingate University sports information student assistant Daniel Smith wrote this story. Smith is a senior Social Studies Education major from Oakboro, N.C.)