Kenan Thompson: As his football career at Campbell has officially ended, former Orange High linebacker Kenan Thompson has been nominated for a series of end-of-year honors. Thompson is a finalist for the Doris Robinson Award, presented to an athlete in the Football Championship Subdivision who excels on the football field, in the classroom and in the community. It is named in honor of the wife of legendary Grambling football coach Eddie Robinson. Thompson was also named to the Big South Conference All-Academic Team and the 2022 Academic All-District by College Sports Communicators. Currently, Thompson is pursuing his MBA. He is currently a graduate student at Campbell. In his final game with the Camels, Thompson had a tackle as Campbell defeated Delaware State 34-7 at Alumni Stadium in Dover, DL. Thompson ended the season with 25 tackles. He played in all eleven games for Campbell.
Payton Wilson: Wilson will play his final game for the #25 N.C. State Wolfpack in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on December 30 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. The Wolfpack will face Maryland. It will be the first matchup between the Wolfpack and the Terrapins since Maryland left the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014. Wilson made his final regular season game with N.C. State one to remember. On November 25, the Wolfpack stunned North Carolina 30-27 in double overtime at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill. Wilson led N.C. State with eleven tackles and one tackle for loss. Wilson also had two quarterback hits. Despite being down to its fourth-string quarterback at season’s end, N.C. State finished the regular season 8-4.
Trenton Gill: Gill continues his rookie season with the Chicago Bears of the NFL. On December 4, the Green Bay Packers held off the Bears 28-19 at Solider Field in Chicago. Gill had only one punt for 39 yards. On November 27, the New York Jets defeated Chicago 31-10 at MetLift Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. Gill had five punts for an average of 48.8 yards. His longest punt was 61 yards. On November 20, the Atlanta Falcons defeated the Bears 27-24 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Gill had four punts for an average of 40 yards per punt. One of them was downed inside the 20-yard line. His longest was 44 yards. Chicago is 3-10 and have lost six in a row.
Lottie Scully: Scully was named the American East Setter of the Week for the Binghamton volleyball team for the week of November 15. Scully, a freshman, had 33 assists, nine digs and two blocks in the Bearcats win over Bryant University. The win sewed up the Bearcats’ first-ever American East regular season championship. New Hampshire defeated Binghamton 3-0 in the American East Tournament championship game on scores of 30-28, 25-23 and 25-16. Scully missed that game, as well as the contest against St. John’s in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. Scully was named second-team All-American East Conference. Scully had 788 assists, a team-high. She also had 187 digs.
Emerson Talley: The season of the Division II Lenoir-Rhyne women’s soccer team ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against #3 Columbus State. The Cougars defeated the Bears 1-0 at Walden Soccer Complex in Columbus, GA. Talley came off the bench to play 29 minutes, but the Bears couldn’t repeat its 2021 success, when they reached the Final Four for the first time in school history. This season, Talley played in 14 games. She didn’t score in 332 minutes of action. The Bears ended the year 12-4-3, 9-0-2 in the South Atlantic Conference.