Duncan, Baker lauded with preseason Beyond Sports Network All-America honors

Carson-Newman kicker Curt Duncan (Morristown, Tenn.) and running back Brandon Baker (Miami, Fla.) have been tabbed as first team and third team Beyond Sports Network All-Americans, respectively.

Duncan was a BSN and CoSIDA Academic All-American last year.  A first team all-SAC and all-region selection and four-time SAC player of the Week in 2012,  Duncan was tops for Carson-Newman in scoring, leading the team with 102 points.  That tally set a record for the most points scored in a season by a kicker in school history.

Duncan broke a 14-year-old record set in 1998 by Ryan Fleming, who scored 92 points in that season. He connected on 14 of his 15 field goals and all 60 of his extra points.  The 54-yard field goal he blasted against Tusculum (11/3) as time expired in the first half was the longest in school history.

He also became the first C-N kicker to make four field goals in a game for the first time since 1984 – he accomplished that feat twice in 2012, against Lenoir-Rhyne (9/15) and in the quarterfinals of the DII playoffs against Valdosta State (12/1).  Duncan also set the single game scoring record for a kicker against L-R with 17 points (four field goals, five extra points).

Baker earned Don Hansen All-America honors at the end of 2012. A two-time SAC offensive player of the week. Baker’s 1,468-yard rushing season marked the third best year for an Eagle on the ground in Carson-Newman history.  Only Buck Wakefield (1,515 yards in 2009) and Kenneth Tyson (1,867 yards in 1987) rank in front of Baker’s season.

Baker finished the year with 122 yards per game – tops in the SAC and 17^th best nationally. Baker’s 8.25 yards a carry were the best in the nation for anyone with more than 100 carries in 2012.  He’s also the first C-N back this century to rush for more than eight yards a carry with more than 100 carries in a season.

Baker finished the year with four straight games with more than 140 yards on the ground.  The junior has 2,452 yards for his career – 1,704 away from Robert Thomas’ (1988-1991) career record of 4,156.

Carson-Newman is the only school in the SAC with multiple players on the BSN All-America teams.  Duncan is the only SAC player on the first team.

Lenoir-Rhyne’s Tanner Botts and Mars Hill’s Troy Harris made the second team defense.  Catawba kick returner LJ McCray was a third team selection.

The Eagles open the season Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. against Wayne State.