Sports
Ten Bobcats Earn All-Mac Honors
By: John Jarosik
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With the regular season in rear view mirror, it was time to announce the MAC All-Conference teams for football.
Senior defensive end Tarell Basham won Defensive Player of the Year after leading the MAC in sacks with 10 on the season and safety Javon Hagan won Freshmen of the Year for his MAC-leading five forced fumbles. Offensive Player of the Year went to Western Michigan’s Cory Davis and Coach of the Year went to Western Michigan’s P.J. Fleck for leading the Broncos to an undefeated 12-0 season and a national ranking.
Ten Ohio football players made the lists starting with Basham and Hagan. Other names that made First Team All-MAC included: placekicker Louis Zervos, outside linebacker Blair Brown, inside linebacker Quentin Poling, and Tarell Basham as a down lineman.
Second Team All-MAC players from Ohio included: offensive lineman Troy Watson and freshmen safety Javon Hagan. As for All-MAC Third Team, Ohio had: offensive lineman Jake Pruehs, wide receiver Sebastian Smith, down lineman Casey Sayles, and punter Michael Farkas.
Overall, the Bobcats have players that won two major awards and had 10 players make one of the All-MAC teams which ranks third behind Western Michigan’s 14 selections and Toledo’s 12.
Other than Basham, who was on the 2014 Third team all-Mac, and Smith who made the Third team all-MAC in 2015, this was every Bobcat players first all-conference recognition of their careers.
The Bobcats won the MAC East with a 9-3 victory over Akron and finished the season at 6-2 in the MAC and 8-4 overall. Next up Ohio will have the MAC Championship game in Detroit against an undefeated Western Michigan team that was ranked 17th by the College Football Playoff Committee.
If Ohio wins, it will be a major upset with the Bobcats being a large underdog for Friday’s championship game and would spoil Western Michigan’s chance at getting into the top 16 and making a New Year’s six bowl.