NATCHITOCHES – Eight All-Americans, including 2004 NFL Pro Bowler Terrence McGee, and five pro players, among them Canadian Football League All-Star linebacker Jamall Johnson, were among 16 Northwestern State greats named Wednesday to the Southland Conference All-Decade Football Team for the 2000-09 span.

Among those standouts were quarterback Craig Nall, who teamed with McGee to help NSU beat TCU on the way to the 2001 NCAA FCS postseason, and 2007 All-America offensive tackle Demetress Bell, who never played high school football.

The conference is celebrating its 50^th anniversary in 2013 and announced its final all-decade roster for football Wednesday. The Southland will release its all-time football team later this month.

Also representing NSU on the 2000s All-Decade list chosen by the league office: All-Americans Greg Buckley (2004, offensive tackle), David Pittman (2005, cornerback), Tory Collins (2005, 2006, defensive tackle), and defensive ends Roy Locks (2002) and Ahmad Willis (2001).

The other Demons chosen were return specialist Toby Zeigler, running backs Derrick Johnese and Byron Lawrence, linebacker Kurt Rodriguez, safety Russ Washington, and defensive linemen Quintene Newhouse and Ed Queen.

Johnson, Buckley, Pittman, Collins, Johnese, Newhouse and Zeigler helped Northwestern win the 2004 Southland championship and make a second FCS playoff appearance in three years under coach Scott Stoker.

Johnese, Rodriguez, McGee, Newhouse, Buckley, Locks and Willis were part of the 2002 squad that reached the FCS playoffs for a second straight year. Nall, McGee, Willis, Rodriguez, Locks and Willis teamed on the 2001 playoff squad coached by Steve Roberts.

NSU's 16-man contingent was the second-largest on the All-Decade Team, topped only by 25 from McNeese State.

McGee earned All-America honors as a return specialist in his sophomore season of 2000, when he took three punts back for touchdowns and began an incredible career. He finished in 2002 as the NCAA FCS career record-setter with a 17.4 punt return average, breaking a 17-year-old record. His 23.7 average in 2000 was also an NCAA mark. The Athens, Texas, product was also a four-year starter at cornerback, where he spent 10 NFL seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He was named to the Bills' Top 50 Players of All-Time list by one media outlet.

Johnson was a dynamic two-year starting linebacker who was the Southland's 2003 Newcomer of the Year and 2004 Defensive Player of the Year. He played briefly in the NFL for Cleveland and Tampa Bay, and is in his ninth season as one of the top tacklers in the CFL, now playing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was a 2009 CFL All-Star.

Nall, an Alexandria Senior High product, transferred from LSU to play for the Demons as a senior. He threw for 2,361 yards in 10 games, posting three of the top 10 single-game pass yardage totals in school history while his single-season total was just 35 yards shy of Stoker's 1988 record. Nall played seven NFL seasons with Green Bay, Buffalo and Houston.

Bell has five NFL seasons under his belt with Buffalo, Philadelphia and most recently, Dallas, despite coming to NSU as a basketball player who helped the Demons win Southland Conference titles in 2004 and 2005. He began playing football as a defensive end in 2005, moved to offensive tackle two weeks before the 2006 season opener, and started 22 straight games. He had a sensational senior season, earning first-team Associated Press All-America honors and going to Buffalo in the NFL Draft.

Locks was the 2002 Southland Defensive Player of the Year. Pittman played in the 2006 Senior Bowl, the only FCS player selected that year.

With 212 points from 2002-04, Johnese is the highest-scoring non kicker in school history, and third overall behind Robert Weeks and John Shaughnessy. He is third in school history also in rushing (3,085 yards), while Lawrence (3,216 from 2006-08) is second.

Zeigler holds school marks for single-game (165 yards) and career punt return yardage (1,361 on 109 returns, a 12.5 average.

Rodriguez is third in school history with 408 tackles.