BLUE DRAGONS PLACE FOUR ON NJCAA ALL-AMERICA TEAM

Ronald Williams (upper left) and Latrell Bankston (upper right) were named NJCAA Football 1st Team All-Americans on Tuesday. Kirmari Gainous (lower left) and Jazston Turnetine (lower right) were second-team All-Americans.
Ronald Williams (upper left) and Latrell Bankston (upper right) were named NJCAA Football 1st Team All-Americans on Tuesday. Kirmari Gainous (lower left) and Jazston Turnetine (lower right) were second-team All-Americans.
December 10, 2019

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

For just the third time since 1963, the Hutchinson Community College football team placed four players on the NJCAA All-America team.

Defensive tackle Latrell Bankston and defensive back Ronald Williams were named first-team All-Americans, while defensive end Kirmari Gainous and offensive lineman Jazston Turnetine were named to the second team.

The NJCAA started naming All-America teams in 1950. Before Tuesday's announcement, only twice since then as Hutchinson football had four All-Americans in one season.

The first was 1969 when Mo Lattimore, Jack Morris, Dave Wassenburg and Kenneth Phillips were selected. The second time was in 2014 when Alvin Kamara, Marquavious Lewis, Jeremiah Ledbetter and Claude George were selected.

With the four players selected to the 2019 All-America teams, Blue Dragon football under head coach Rion Rhoades have produced 26 All-Americans in 13 seasons, including 11 first-team selections.

The 2019 Blue Dragons posted the seventh 10-win season in program history this season, going 10-2. The Dragons finished on a strong note with a 45-23 win over No. 18 Monroe in the Salt City Bowl last Saturday. The Blue Dragons finished the 2019 season with their highest final national ranking in program history at No. 3 when the final poll was released on Monday.

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LATRELL BANKSTON – 1st Team Defensive Line
The first-team All-America award was the latest for Bankston, a 6-foot-1, 299-pound sophomore from Woodstock, Georgia. Bankston was named the 2019 Jayhawk Conference Defensive Player of the Year in November.

This season, Bankston has been the dominant player on a dominant Blue Dragon defense, which was No. 1 in the KJCCC in scoring defense (15.0 ppg), No. 1 in total defense (222.2 ypg), No. 1 in pass defense (134.0 ypg) and No. 2 in rush defense (88.2 ypg).

Bankston led the Jayhawk Conference and was No. 8 in the NJCAA with 11 quarterback sacks and was third in the NJCAA in tackles for loss with 23 for losses of 108 yards.

He was third on the Blue Dragons this season with 63 total tackles, including 21 solo stops. Bankston also had eight quarterback hurries, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

Bankston had a season-high 13 total tackles and four quarterback sacks in a narrow loss to Garden City. He had eight tackles and two sacks in a 34-27 win at No. 2 Iowa Western and seven tackles and two sacks in a victory over No. 2 Butler.

RONALD WILLIAMS – 1st Team Defensive Back
Ronald Williams (6-2, 188, Ferriday, LA) had a team-high three interceptions and nine passes broken up to lead a talented defensive secondary. Williams had 27 tackles with one tackles for loss.

Williams had a two-interception game against Independence and a huge interception in a 34-27 win at No. 2 Iowa Western on September 7. Williams had a season-high four passes broken up against Highland on October 5 and he posted a season-high five tackles in the Salt City Bowl victory over Monroe.

KIRMARI GAINOUS – 2nd Team Defensive Line
Gainous (6-3, 255, Tallahassee, FL) was the Blue Dragons' fourth-leading tackler with 49 total tackles, including 17 solo stops. Gainous had 16 tackles for loss that accounted for 74 yards and 8.5 quarterback sacks. Gainous also had two quarterback hurries, one pass broken up, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.

Gainous has single-game highs of eight tackles twice against Fort Scott and Butler. He also had two quarterback sacks against Butler and 1.5 sacks in the Salt City Bowl win over Monroe College. His fumble recovery game in a dominant defensive performance against Iowa Central in the final regular-season game on November 9 in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

JAZSTON TURNETINE – 2nd Team Offensive Line
Turnetine (6-6. 338, Ellenwood, GA) led a Blue Dragon offensive line that led the way for the Blue Dragons to average 44.8 points, 419.6 total yards & 244.5 rush yards per game.

Because of Turnetine and the offensive line, the Blue Dragons broke 80 points twice this season. The 2019 Blue Dragons also posted the third highest-scoring offense and the fourth-best rushing offense in team history.