Through the years there have been some great defensive players for the Towson University football team. Earlier this week I gave you who I thought were the best offensive players I have seen in my years broadcasting Towson football. Today I present to you my all-time defensive team.
Now, there have been times the Tigers ran a 4-3 defense, and there have been times they have run a 3-4 defense. So I took the liberty of putting four defensive linemen and four linebackers on my team.
Here we go.
DL- Frank Beltre. 2011 and 2012 First Team All-CAA. Great at disrupting things. When the Tigers were ready to reveal their new uniforms in 2012, they took a mold of Frank's body to model the new unis. Led the Tigers in sacks in 2011 and 2012.
DL- Ryan Delaire. Second team All-American in 2014, First team All-CAA in 2013 and 2014. Major part of the Tigers' national championship runner-up team in 2013.
DL- Andrew Hollingsworth - How is this: Led the team in sacks in all four of his seasons, including a team record 18 in 2000. Tigers all-time leader in sacks with 43. First Team All-Patriot league in 1999 and 2000. First Team All-American in 2000.
DL- Rodney Smith. Eighth on the Tigers' all-time tackle list and third on the Tigers' all-time sack list. He is a member of the Tiger Hall of Fame. Second Team All-American in 1989. Son has also played at Towson.
LB- Mike Arbutina. Second all-time in tackles. Led the team in tackles three straight seasons. The Tigers were an independent until they joined the Patriot League in 1997. So Mike and any others who played before them were not part of any all-conference teams. He was a stud on those Tiger defenses that went 8-2 in both 1993 and 1994.
LB- Jeff Boller. He was your prototypical middle linebacker. Classmate of mine. All-time leading tackler in school history with 382. Had school record of 127 until
Telvion Clark broke it with 145 in 2013. Boller did his in 11 games, Clark in 16. So in 1982 Jeff averaged 11.6 tackles per game!! If you got near him, you weren't getting past him.
LB- P.D. Moore. Led team in tackles in 2004 with 111. Third team All-American in 2004. First Team All-Patriot League in 2002 and 2003, First team All-Atlantic 10 in 2004. Gordy Combs loves him and would never talk to me again if he was excluded. Great player, Great Guy, Towson Hall of Famer.
LB- Bobby Poist. Second all-time in sacks with 31. Had school record of 17 until broken by Hollingsworth. Leader of the greatest defensive team in school history. Think about this: The 1983 Tiger defense only gave up 88 points in 12 games. They had four shutouts!! Poist was a major part of their success. 1983 team was first Division II team in school history to make the playoffs.
CB- Jabari Garrett. Shut down corner who was First Team All-Patriot league in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Helped lead the Tigers into the Patriot League. Stats aren't gaudy because teams stayed away from throwing his way. You who else had stats that weren't gaudy? The wide receivers who went up against him.
CB- Tye Smith. First team All-American in 2014. Another shut down corner who doesn't have big stats because teams stayed away from him. Key defensive player on 2013 national championship runner-up team. Has had a nice NFL career with Tennessee.
S- Jordan Dangerfield. He may be the hardest hitting player in Towson history. You could make a chilling highlight reel of the licks he put on guys. First Team All-American in 2011, Second Team All-American in 2012. Transferred from Hofstra after they dropped the program. Has been a long time member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
S- Gary Rubeling. Greatest ball hawk in Towson history. 25 career interceptions. Three times he intercepted three passes in a game. He has 12 interceptions against number two on the list Khalid McLeod. Think about this. Gary had 13 interceptions in 1983. McLeod is second all-time in school history with 13 in his career. First Team All-American in 1983.
P- Sean Landeta. This was the easiest pick I had to make. No one is even close. As a matter of fact, there are not many schools period who ever had a punter like Sean. His punting numbers were mindboggling. Take a look at his NFL numbers. Just as mindboggling. First Team All-American in 1982. Should be in the NFL Hall of Fame. Averaged 42 yards per punt as a Tiger.
PR- David Meggett. Probably the most exciting player ever to put on a Tiger uniform. Walter Payton Award winner. He was a triple threat. Running back, kick returner and punt returner. I believe he is still the only player in college history to be a captain at two different schools, Towson and Morgan State. David could also have been my all-time best kick return man, and also could have been one of my all-time running backs. If you didn't see him, you have no idea how good he was. He and Sean Landeta were All-Pros and Super Bowl champions with the New York Giants.
So there you have it. Next week we will tackle my all-time Tiger men's lacrosse team.
Stay safe.
