The Best Defensive Backs in Troy History

December 7, 2019 Ben Whitehead

Troy has had a long history of great defensive backs in their history. This list combines cornerbacks and safeties into one bunch. When looking at the stats, you will see far fewer listings for tackling records, as these players are usually playing further away from the ball on running plays or are unable to make a play if the ball isn’t thrown near them.

As with most of my lists, I am sure I will have left out someone you feel is deserving or included someone you don’t feel should be. If that is the case, don’t forget to vote in the poll. An other selection is available.

All players in the list are former players and none are currently active. Players should also have had an All-America or All-Conference honor and/or made significant contributions to rewriting the Troy record book for their position during their time.

The Best

Ronnie Shelley (1967-69)

- Accolades
  - All-American 1968
- Single-Game Records
  - #1 (tied) Interceptions – 3, 1968
- Single-Season Records
  - #1 Interception Return Yards – 294, 1968
  - #1 Interceptions – 15, 1968 & 8 (tied), 1967
- Career Records
  - #1 Interceptions – 36
  - #1 Interception Return Yards -492

Freddie Thomas (1984-87)

- Accolades
  - 1986 & 1987 All-American
  - 1986 & 1987 All-Gulf South
  - 1987 Gulf South Defensive Player of the Year
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #6 (tied) Assisted Tackles – 63, 1987
- Career Records
  - #13 (tied) Interceptions – 11
  - #18 Total Tackles – 272
  - #20 Assisted Tackles – 119

Rayshun Reed (1999-03)

- Accolades
  - All-Southland 2000
  - All Independent 2001,03
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #4 Interception Return Yards – 163, 2001
  - #1 (tied) Interception Touchdowns – 2, 2001
  - #2 (tied) Fumble Return Touchdowns – 1, 2001
- Career Records
  - #13 (tied) Interceptions – 11
  - #3 Interception Return Yards – 287
  - #1 Interception Touchdowns – 3

Derrick Ansley (2000-04)

- Accolades
  - All Independent 2003
  - All-Sun Belt 2004
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #2 Interceptions – 9, 2003
- Career Records
  - #2 Interceptions – 19
  - #12 Interception Return Yards – 181
  - #2 (tied) Interception Touchdowns – 2
  - #13 Total Tackles – 304
  - #13 Unassisted Tackles – 169
  - #14 Assisted Tackles – 135

Clifford Ivory (1994-97)

- Accolades
  - 1997 All-American
  - 1997 All-Southland
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - None
- Career Records
  - #8 Interception Return Yards – 207
  - #2 (tied) Interception Touchdowns – 2

Doug Mims (1987-89)

- Accolades
  - All-Gulf South 1988
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #3 INT Return Yards – 165, 1988
  - #3 (tied) Interceptions – 8, 1988
  - #1 (tied) Interception Touchdowns – 2, 1988
- Career Records
  - #7 (tied) Interceptions – 13
  - #11 Interception Return Yards – 188
  - #2 (tied) Interception Touchdowns – 2

Tony Myrick (1971-74)

- Accolades
  1. All-Gulf South 1974
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - None
- Career Records
  - #9 (tied) Interceptions – 12
  - #5 Interception Return Yards – 240
  - #20 Total Tackles – 259
  - #18 (tied) Assisted Tackles – 120

Sherman Wilkinson (1977-80)

- Accolades
  - All-Gulf South 1979-80
  - Gulf South Defensive Player of the Year 1980
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #2 Interception Return Yards – 189, 1979 and #10 (tied) 123, 1980
- Career Records
  - #9 (tied) Interceptions – 12
  - #2 Interception Return Yards – 328

Chris Archie (1997-00)

- Accolades
  - All-Southland 2000
- Single-Game Records
  - #1 (tied) Interception – 3
- Single-Season Records
  - #8 (tied) Interception – 7, 2000
- Career Records
  - #17 (tied) Interception – 10

Blace Brown (2014, 16-18)

- Accolades
  - All-Sun Belt 2017, 2018
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #5 (tied) Interception Touchdown – 1, 2017
- Career Records
  - #9 Interception – 12
  - #12 (tied) Interception Return Yards – 181

Cedarius Rookard (2015-18)

- Accolades
  - All-Sun Belt 217, 2018
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - None
- Career Records
  - #17 (tied) Interceptions – 10
  - #14 Interception Return Yards – 156

Johnny Faulk (2002-05)

- Accolades
  - All-SBC 2004, 2005
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #2 Fumble Return Yards – 79, 2004
  - #2 Fumble Return Touchdowns – 1, 2004
- Career Records
  - #13 (tied) Interceptions – 11

Shane Black (1993-96)

- Accolades
  - All-Southland – 1996
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #5 (tied) Interceptions Return Yards – 151, 1996
  - #3 Fumble Returns – 2, 1996
- Career Records
  - #16 Interception Return Yards – 151

Montres Kitchens (2012-15)

- Accolades
  - All-Sun Belt 2014, 2015
- Single-Game Records
  - #1 (tied) Interceptions – 3, 2014
- Single-Season Records
  - #5 (tied) Interception Touchdowns – 1, 2014
- Career Records
  - None

Honorable Mentions

Eric Sloan (1997-99)

- Accolades
  - All-Southland 1998,99
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #8 Interception Return Yards – 137, 1998
- Career Records
  - #9 Interception Return Yards – 199

Harris Spencer (1977-80)

- Accolades
  - All-Gulf South 1980
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - None
- Career Records
  - #10 Interception Return Yards – 196

Brannon Condren (2003-06)

- Accolades
  - All-Sun Belt 2006
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #3 Unassisted Tackles – 86, 2006
- Career Records
  - None

Leodis McKelvin (2004-07)*

- Accolades
  - All-Sun Belt 2007
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - #5 (tied) Fumble Returns Yards – 36, 2007
- Career Records
  - None

*Leodis McKelvin is rated low here solely on his accomplishments as a defensive back. That only shows about half of his contributions to Troy, which will come when I cover All-Purpose Players.

Sherrod Martin (2004-05, 07-08)

- Accolades
  - All-Sun Belt 2007, 2008
- Single-Game Records
  - #1 (tied) Interceptions – 3, 2008
- Single-Season Records
  - None
- Career Records
  - #25 Unassisted Tackles – 166

Demetric Shipman (1993-96)

- Accolades
  - All-Southland 1996
- Single-Game Records
  - None
- Single-Season Records
  - None
- Career Records
  - #13 (tied) Interceptions- 11

That concludes our list of the best defensive backs in Troy history. As always, don’t forget to vote in the poll. You can let me know what you think on Twitter at @BenOnSports.

Poll – https://forms.gle/WVSHrcAixWMmN6yi8

2 thoughts on “The Best Defensive Backs in Troy History”

Troy Alumni

December 8, 2019 at 4:30 pm

Why Jimmy Anderson , Brandon Trawick or Camren Hudson not on there. Plus you have Sherrod and Leodis as Honorable Mentions. That’s crazy. Who made this?
- Ben Whitehead
  
  December 10, 2019 at 7:59 am
  
  Hi, thanks for reading. I put my criteria at the start of the article. All-American or All-Conference and statistical records. If a player had his name in for several records, but wasn’t an All-American or All-Conference, I would allow them, just as I would eliminate those All-Americans or All-Conference without significant statistical achievements. Some were on the edge, so I included the honorable mentions. As for Leodis, I inlcluded my reasoning for not including him in the my Top list in his section. Don’t forget to vote in the poll!

Comments are closed.