CLEVELAND, Ohio – Phil Steele officially released his 2024 FCS All-American and All-Conference selections, distinguishing The Citadel graduate students James Platte and Nathan Tokar as fourth-team punter and long snapper, respectively. Additionally, Platte and Tokar led the way on the Phil Steele All-Southern Conference choices as first-team picks while QB Johnathan Bennett (second team), LB Thomas Wyatt (second team), DL Chris Iverson (third team), RB Cooper Wallace (fourth team), OL Mike Bartilucci (fourth team), OL Nico Rodriguez-Pena (fourth team), DB Dominick Poole (fourth team) and DB Bradlee Jones (fourth team) tagged along as well.

Platte, a product of Aiken, S.C., served as the anchor for the highly-effective Bulldogs special teams unit across the full 12-game season, posting a new program season record 47.3 punt average off 44 total kicks for a 2081 yards. The grad student notably launched 18 kicks over 50 yards while pinning opposing teams inside their own 20-yard line on 17 occasions, finishing with the second-best punt average mark within the FCS as well as currently ranking fifth overall at the Division I level.

Tokar, a long snapper out of Naperville, Ill., took care of business after transferring into the program over the offseason, overseeing a 14-of-25 field goal clip plus 28-of-29 successful PATs across all 12 contests for The Citadel. The grad student also ensured 50 punts were booted away with just a single block -- including a career-best 69-yarder off the foot of Platte -- while also logging a single tackle on the season as well.




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