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Vern Smith Leadership Award Winner: QB Jordan Lynch, Northern Illinois
Coach of the Year: Darrell Hazell, Kent State
Offensive Player of the Year: QB Jordan Lynch, Northern Illinois
Defensive Player of the Year: DT Chris Jones, Bowling Green
Special Teams Player of the Year: KR Dri Archer, Kent State
Freshman of the Year: WR Jaime Wilson, Western Michigan
I honestly thought they'd split up the Lynch/Archer awards a bit more between Vern Smith and Offensive POY, but Lynch swept both honors and Archer will have to "settle" for first team running back and Special Teams POY. Everything else was entirely expected. Jones was the most forceful defensive player in the MAC, perhaps in a few years. Wilson was a bright spot in a dismal WMU season. And Darrell Hazell became the most successful coach in Kent State history.
Below is our annual grid of all the winners, sorted by team and points.
| School | First Team (3 pts) |
Second Team (2 pts) |
Third Team (1 pt) |
Total Points |
| Ball State | OL Austin Holtz TE Zane Fakes WR Willie Snead WR Jamill Smith PK Steven Schott |
QB Keith Wenning ILB Travis Freeman DL Jonathan Newsome |
OL Jordan Hansel OL Cam Lowry RB Jahwan Edwards DL Nate Ollie DB Eric Patterson KR Jamill Smith PR Jamill Smith |
28 |
| Toledo | C Zac Kerin WR Bernard Reedy RB David Fluellen ILB Dan Molls DB Jermaine Robinson PR Bernard Reedy |
KR Bernard Reedy | OL Greg Mancz WR Alonzo Russell PK Jeremiah Detmer DB Cheatham Norrils |
24 |
| Kent State | OL Brian Winters RB Dri Archer KR Dri Archer DL Roosevelt Nix |
OL Josh Kline ILB Luke Batton DB Luke Wollet |
RB Trayion Durham OLB C.J. Malauulu DL Jake Dooley |
21 |
| NIU | QB Jordan Lynch WR Martel Moore DL Sean Progar DL Alan Baxter DB Jimmie Ward |
OL Tyler Loos OLB Tyrone Clark |
None | 19 |
| BGSU | OLB Gabe Martin DL Chris Jones DB BooBoo Gates |
OL Jordan Roussos P Brian Schmiedebusch |
OL Dominic Flewellyn TE Alex Bayer ILB Dwayne Woods DL Ted Ouellet DB Cameron Truss |
18 |
| WMU | OL Dann O'Neil |
WR Jaime Wilson DL Freddie Bishop DB Justin Currie PR Jaime Wilson |
C Kevin Galeher ILB Desmond Bozeman DB Johnnie Simon |
14 |
| Ohio | None | C Skyler Allen OL Eric Herman RB Beau Blankenship PK Matt Weller |
OLB Alphonso Lewis DL Neal Huynh |
10 |
| CMU | OL Eric Fisher | WR Titus Davis RB Zurlon Tipton DB Jahleel Addae |
WR Cody Wilson | 10 |
| EMU | P Jay Karutz | TE Garrett Hoskins OLB Justin Cudworth DL Andy Mulumba |
None | 9 |
| Miami (OH) | DB Dayonne Nunley |
WR Nick Harwell | QB Zac Dysert WR Andy Cruse |
7 |
| Buffalo | OLB Khalil Mack | WR Alex Neutz DL Steven Means |
None | 7 |
| UMass | ILB Perry McIntyre | DB Darren Thellen | P Colter Johnson | 6 |
| Akron | None | None | WR Marquelo Suel | 1 |
Observations:
• At some point they're going to call the Vern Smith Award the NIU Player of the Year. Someone for the black and red has won that six out of the last seven years: Lynch, Chandler Harnish, Chad Spann, Larry English (twice) and Garrett Wolfe. Dan LeFevour is the only non-NIU player since 2006 to claim it.
• Eight wins and no first-teamers for Ohio? Akron was the only other team without one.
• Keith Wenning guided that offense well and Dysert needs to be included in his farewell season, but how did Terrance Owens not slide in there somewhere?
• I disagree with the tight end selections. Garrett Hoskins is the most impressive tight end I've seen in the MAC in quite a while. Fakes has more touchdowns and receptions, but Hoskins has more yards and I can remember some big catches of his that were negated by penalties.
• I love me some BooBoo, but I am astonished that he took home first team as a defensive back. I'd switch him and perhaps Addae, maybe even move Gates down to third team. And when was the last time the conference interception leader, Buffalo's Najja Johnson (five INTs), didn't make the board?
• Wilson is a great and obvious choice for top freshman, but a trendy one would've been Kent State punter Anthony Melchiori, third in the MAC in average punting and the first freshman punter in a very long time to boot way over 40 yards per punt.
• Jay Karutz is EMU's first first-teamer since 2007. Punters are people too!
• An impressive and unspoken streak broken for Buffalo is gone. With Mack as their lone first-teamer, that snaps a four-year streak they had at least two first-teamers. Three of those years they had three.
• Poor Akron. This is the third straight year they've only had one player recognized.
• Remember last year when Weller won Special Teams Player of the Year but not first-team kicker? Sorry, that's still weird to me.
Now here's the All-MAC points per team win. A higher value could indicate a team was over-awarded or has more individual talent than team depth.
Kent State: 1.91 (21 to 11)
NIU: 1.75 (19 to 11)
Ball State 3.11 (28 to 9)
Toledo: 2.66 (24 to 9)
BGSU: 2.25 (18 to 8)
OHIO: 1.25 (10 to 8)
CMU: 1.66 (10 to 6)
WMU: 3.50 (14 to 4)
Buffalo: 1.75 (7 to 4)
Miami: 1.75 (7 to 4)
EMU: 4.50 (9 to 2)
UMass: 6.00 (6 to 1)
Akron: 1.00 (1 to 1)