FARMINGTON, Utah – Fifteen Vandals were named to Big Sky All-Conference Teams, highlighted by Gevani McCoy who was named Freshman of the Year and Hayden Haden and
Jermaine Jackson who earned first-team honors.
McCoy, a redshirt freshman quarterback, has been outstanding. He was named a Jerry Rice Award Finalist Monday and a Blue Bloods FCS Freshman All-American Tuesday.
He has 25 touchdowns on the year and 2,376 yards despite missing the final game due a minor injury. He has completed 68% of his passes and has compiled a 168.4 passer rating.
McCoy is the only quarterback on the Rice Finalist list to lead his team to the playoffs.
Jackson earned All-Big Sky First-Team honors as a kick returner and a receiver. Jackson leads the Big Sky in 14.4 yards per return. He is also one of six players in the league to earn a punt return touchdown. On the receiving side of things, Jackson is second in the Big Sky in Yards and yards per game. He had 940 yards and three touchdowns.
The only player in the Big Sky with more yards and yards per catch in the Big Sky is his teammate Hatten. Hatten leads the FCS with 15 receiving touchdowns, an Idaho school record. He also has 1000 yards receiving in just 10 games this season. He also tied the school record for receiving touchdowns in a game with four against Eastern Washington.
Idaho placed six players on the second team, Anthony Woods, Juliano Falaniko, Paul Moala,
Fa'Avae Fa'Avae,
Marcus Harris and Ricardo Chavez.
Woods, a true freshman running back, earned second team honors after racking up a team-high 822 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry and hit the 100-yard mark in two games.
On the defensive side of the ball, Falaniko, a defensive end, made his mark with 30 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and a team-high five QB hurries despite missing the regular-season finale.
Linebacker Moala was a stat stuffer all season. He had 54 total tackles, seven tackles for loss, two sacks, six pass breakups and four interceptions, including a key pick against Montana.
Linebacker Fa'Avae led the Vandals with 98 total tackles this season, 31 more than the second-best player on the team. He also had a pair of forced fumbles, 5.5 TFLS and a pair of sacks.
Harris, a cornerback, has a fumble recovery touchdown and an interception return touchdown as well as a team-high 10 pass breakups. He has 51 total tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.
Junior college transfer kicker Chavez is second in the Big Sky in field goal percentage and made 15 field goals so far this season. He is 42-42 on PATs this season.
McCoy earned third-team honors and was joined on the third team by Center
Logan Floyd, safety
Tommy McCormick and
Sean McCormick earned special teams specialist honors.
A senior captain, Floyd anchors an offensive line that rushed for 1926 yards, averaging 4.4 yards per carry and racking up 19 rushing touchdowns on the season.
Tommy McCormick is tied for Moala with four interceptions on the season. As many as Idaho had as a team last year. He is third on the team with 57 tackles and had a fumble recovery and blocked a PAT attempt.
Sean McCormick has been outstanding on special teams throughout the year, earning four team Special Teams Player of the Game honors. He had eight tackles.
Three players earned honorable mention honors. A pair of offensive linemen in Senior
Beau St. John and true freshman Ayden Knapik. Defensive end
Leo Tamba earned an honorable mention nod after piling up 29 total tackles, five TFLs and a team-high four sacks.