ULM Warhawks

MONROE, La.?With the 2008 ULM football season officially in the books, the performances by several Warhawk players forced the ULM records to be rewritten.

Outgoing senior quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster will go down in history as one of the most prolific signal callers in school history. Lancaster, who began his career as a wide receiver, departs ULM ranked in the top five of five school single-season and career records.

The Shreveport, La., native threw 18 touchdown passes this season, the most in the Sun Belt Conference. His 18 scoring strikes are the most since Raymond Philyaw threw 22 in 1995 and ties him with Super Bowl quarterback Stan Humphries for the fourth most in school history. He also cracked the top 10 in pass completions in 2008 with 186.

Lancaster attempted a remarkable 173 consecutive passes over a seven-game period without an interception setting the ULM record in the process. His streak ranked second best in the nation at the time.  

He finishes his career ranked fourth in completions (509), fourth in touchdown passes (38), fifth in pass attempts (881) and fifth in passing yards (5,769). 

What made Lancaster an even more remarkable quarterback, was his ability to run the football. He finishes his career with 1,557 rushing yards, a mere 22 outside the ULM all-time top 10 and the most by a quarterback in school history. His 74-yard run at Middle Tennessee this year was the 13^th longest in school history.

One of Lancaster's favorite targets was freshman wide receiver Anthony McCall. The Montgomery, Ala., native caught a ULM freshman record six touchdown passes. Heading into this weekend's action, McCall is tied for first overall in the Sun Belt and is tied for eighth nationally among freshman wide receivers with his six touchdowns.

Another key target for Lancaster was tight end Zeek Zacharie. Zacharie, a two-time All-Sun Belt selection, finished the season with four touchdown receptions. The senior's 12 career touchdown receptions are tied for 10^th place all-time in ULM history. The Cade, La., native also moved into 10^th place on the all-time receptions list after finishing his career with 112.

Darrell McNeal, Lancaster's go-to receiver, led the Warhawks in catches (51) and receiving yards (558) for the second straight season. McNeal will enter his senior season ranked sixth in career receptions with 130, and needs 74 more to move past Mack Vincent for the school record of 204. He also rushed for four touchdowns in 2008 ? the most by a wide receiver in ULM history.

The Monroe, La., native will have the opportunity to pass ULM greats Jackie Harris (147), Stepfret Williams (168), Marty Booker (178) and Cisco Richard (179) along the way to the top of the record book. 

McNeal ranks just outside the top 10 with 10 career touchdown receptions and is just 430 yards outside the top 10 for career receiving yards. 

Sophomore running back Frank Goodin is poised to make his run towards the ULM records after gashing opponents for 783 yards this season. Combining his breakout freshman campaign with this year's total puts the West Monroe, La., product just 200 yards outside the career rushing top 10.  Goodin's nine career touchdowns put him just four away from cracking the career top 10 list.

The Warhawk defense also saw a magnitude of outstanding performances led by junior linebacker Cardia Jackson.

Jackson led the Warhawks with 127 tackles, the most since current Carolina Panther Chris Harris recorded the same number in 2002. The last time a player recorded more than 127 tackles in a season was 1998 when Brian Taylor had 144 stops.

Jackson teamed up with safety Josh Thompson to become the first ULM duo to record over 100 tackles in a season since Harris and Carlos Hughes topped the century mark in 2002. 

The pair also broke through in a couple single-game categories. Thompson's 20 tackles against North Texas were the 11^th most in ULM history and Jackson's 14 solo tackles at Tulane were the eighth most in school history.

Defensive end Aaron Morgan was a force off the edge recording 6.0 sacks on the season, which was the most since Brandon Guillory's 10.5 in 2005 and second most in the past nine seasons.

Junior safety Greg James inched closer to elite status in both the ULM and Sun Belt record books with three more interceptions this season. He needs just two more to tie the Warhawk record and one more to tie the Sun Belt mark.

James returned an interception for a touchdown against Louisiana-Lafayette. The pick-six was the second of his career tying the ULM and Sun Belt record.

A pair of freshmen made a huge impact on special teams. Luther Ambrose's 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown at Arkansas State was the seventh longest in school history and the first kick return for a score since Charles Estes took one back in 2003. Ambrose finished the game averaging a new school record 42.7 yards per return.

Robert Williams, Ambrose's partner on returns, finished the season with 681 kickoff return yards, the fifth most in school history and the most since Estes' 988 yards in 2003. 

The Warhawks ended their season as one of the best in the nation in taking care of the football. Heading into this weekend's action, ULM ranks 17^th nationally in turnovers lost and eighth in fumbles lost. The Warhawks set a school record with only 13 fumbles and five fumbles lost on the year.