Three Braves Earn Phil Steele Preseason All-SWAC Honors

CLEVELAND – Alcorn State Football student-athletes CJ Bolar, Claudin Cherelus and Niko Duffey have each been named to the Phil Steele Preseason All-SWAC Team, announced this week by the nationally renowned publication during its annual conference preview from its headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio.
 
After being named to the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Preseason Team just over two weeks ago, senior wide receiver CJ Bolar is earning his second preseason award leading into the 2022 campaign, this time making his way onto the Phil Steele Second Team Offense. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound native of Purvis, Mississippi, made an instant impact for the Braves in his first season after transferring from Vanderbilt. Arriving to the Lorman campus at the end of the 2019 campaign, he was sidelined for the duration of the 2020-21 athletic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his first playing season for the Purple and Gold during the fall 2021 season, Bolar capped off a stellar season by placing himself 10th in the league with 668 receiving yards (16.7 yards/reception) and five touchdowns. He went on to average 60.7 receiving yards per contest across the season, including a 152-yard effort in a win away to Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
 
Also a Preseason All-SWAC honoree at SWAC Media Day last month in Birmingham, Alabama, Claudin Cherelus, a 6-2, 195-pound senior from Naples, Florida, is earning his first Phil Steele Preseason nod with a second team defensive showing as a linebacker. The transfer from Massachusetts arrived to Lorman prior to the 2020-21 athletic term. In his first playing season for the Braves, the Golden Gate High alum finished second on the squad and eighth in the conference overall for total tackles (76). His 11 tackles for loss allowed him to finish 11th in the league in that department, while mixing in a pair of quarterback sacks along the way. He went on to record four quarterback pressures and a fumble recovery. He garnered the first double-digit tackles performance of his Alcorn career when he amassed 14 tackles (10 solo) at Southern.
 
The third and final honoree for the Braves is Niko Duffey, also a member of the conference's preseason team announced last month, now collecting a Phil Steele Preseason Second Team Offense honor. Duffey, a 5-11, 175-pound junior running back from Tampa, Florida, finished the 2021 campaign ranked fourth in the SWAC with 805 rushing yards (73.2 yards/game) and four touchdowns on his way to being voted to the All-SWAC Second Team Offense at the end of the season. The Jefferson High product also stepped out of the backfield to post 18 receptions for 181 yards and one touchdown. Throughout the campaign, Duffey had a string of three consecutive games in which he eclipsed 100 yards rushing in contests against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (142 yds), Grambling State (138 yds) and Mississippi Valley State (138 yds), respectfully. He also turned in a 128-yard performance at Southern University.
 
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