Shannon James---- Buchanan Candidate

Senior UMass Safety Shannon James is a candidate for the Buchanan Award given to the best defensive player in I-AA. James has had a stellar career at UMass. Read his official UMass bio here . His official NCAA stats are here .

He has been listed as top safety in I-AA by the Sports Network. The Sports Network also picked him as a First Team All-American .

nfldraftscout.com lists him as the four highest pick in both I-A and I-AA.

Some of his stats and honors:

• Seven first team All-American selections in 2004
• A-10 Defensive Player-of-the-Year
• Led nation and I-AA in interceptions and interceptions per game
• Leads all active Division I players in career interceptions (16)
• 75 tackles (63 solo) in 2004
• Named tri-captain of the UMass team in 2005

Hopefully, James will close out his UMass career with an A10 Championship and a deep run into the playoffs.

The two images below are from the UMass photo gallery.