MOBILE, Ala. – Seven University of South Alabama football players – Riley Cole, Kawaan Baker, Jalen Tolbert, Jacob Shoemaker, Keith Gallmon, Gi'Narious Johnson and Jack Brooks – have been named to one of the four preseason all-Sun Belt Conference teams by Phil Steele Publications.

Cole, a second-team selection, earned honorable mention all-league honors from the coaches and media a season ago after being credited with 59 total stops, including nine behind the line of scrimmage — the second-highest total on the team. The 6-foot-3 senior linebacker posted his best outing of 2019 against Troy where he led all players with a career-best 11 tackles in the annual "Battle For The Belt" contest.

As a junior, Baker (third team) led the team with 35 catches for 574 yards and was also named honorable mention all-Sun Belt Conference. The 6-foot-1 wide receiver also added 82 yards rushing and 35 on kick returns to post 692 all-purpose yards, the second-highest total on the squad. Baker led team in receptions in four contests and in receiving yards on five occasions, while also registering 12 plays of 20 or more yards — the second-highest total on the squad.

Tolbert, one of five fourth-team selections, finished the 2019 campaign with 27 catches for 521 yards, and led the team with six touchdown receptions and an average of 19.3 yards per catch. He received honorable mention National Performer-of-the-Week accolades from the College Football Performance Awards and was College Sports Madness' Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week after recording career highs with five catches for 144 yards and setting a school game record with four touchdowns to help lead the Jaguars to a Senior Day victory over Arkansas State.

Shoemaker started all 12 games at left tackle his first season at the NCAA Division I level last season. After grading out at 80 percent overall and finishing second on the squad with 63 knockdown blocks, the Gulfport, Miss., native received honorable mention all-Sun Belt Conference recognition. He was second on the team with an 87 percent assignment mark and earned a grade of 80 percent or higher six times, with five of those performances coming the second half of the year.

On the defensive side of the ball, both Keith Gallmon and Gi'Narious Johnson also earned fourth-team accolades from the publication. Gallmon osted 59 total stops — highlighted by 43 unassisted — with two behind the line of scrimmage, and added four passes broken up, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He recorded a career-best 10 tackles, leading all players in the category, as well as a pass defensed against 21st-ranked Appalachian State.

As a sophomore, Johnson appeared in all 12 of the team's games his first season with the program. The 6-foot defensive lineman totaled 13 stops with 1½ sacks.

Brooks (fourth team) punted 67 times for an average of 42.2 yards per kick, and had 21 punts downed inside the opposition's 20-yard line with 14 efforts of 50-plus yards. He ranked sixth in the Sun Belt Conference and was among the top 60 nationally in average yards per punt, while that figure was also the fifth-highest mark in South's season record book.

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