PROVIDENCE, R.I. – UCF quarterback Blake Bortles and Louisville defensive end Marcus Smith, who led their respective teams to 11-1 records in the regular season, have been named the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively, by the league’s 10 head coaches.
UCF coach George O’Leary, who led the Knights to the outright American Athletic Conference title and a berth in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, was the unanimous selection as Coach of the Year.
Bortles was chosen as the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year after he helped the Knights go 8-0 in conference play, a record that included four come-from-behind wins in the fourth quarter. Bortles completed 68.1 percent of his passes in the regular season, throwing for 3,280 yards and 22 touchdowns and adding five rushing touchdowns. He ranks ninth nationally in both completion percentage and pass efficiency rating (163.3).
Smith was named American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year for his performance on one of the nation’s most effective defenses. Smith registered 12.5 sacks, 15.5 tackles for loss, had three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in the regular season, pacing a defense that allowed just 257.9 yards (second nationally) and 12.4 points per game (third nationally). He ranked second among all FBS players in sacks and was 17th nationally in tackles for loss.
Ayers and Hornsey shared American Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Year accolades. Ayers led the conference with 884 yards on kickoff returns, averaging 26.8 yards per return with one touchdown. He finished the regular season with exactly 1,000 all-purpose yards. Hornsey, a finalist for the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s top punter, led The American in punting at 45.2 yards per kick, good for eighth nationally. He had 18 punts of 50 or more yards and saw 25 of his 55 punts downed inside the 20-yard line.
O’Korn was named American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year after he helped the Cougars to an 8-4 regular season as a true freshman. O’Korn stepped in as the Cougars’ starter in the third game of the season, after David Piland suffered a career-ending injury against Temple in the conference opener, and threw for 2,889 yards and 26 touchdowns with eight interceptions in the regular season. He ranked fifth in the conference in both passing yards (240.8 yards per game) and pass efficiency (138.2) and was fifth among FBS freshmen in passing yards.
O’Leary is the first American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after he led the Knights, who were picked fourth in the conference’s preseason media poll, to an 11-1 overall record, and 8-0 conference mark and the outright league championship. UCF is ranked No. 15 in the final Bowl Championship Series standings as well as both major national polls. One of eight finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award as national coach of the year, O’Leary was named his conference’s coach of the year for a sixth time in his 17-year head coaching career. He was a two-time ACC Coach of the Year at Georgia Tech and a three-time Conference USA Coach of the Year with UCF.
In addition to the major award-winners, The American also named its first and second all-conference teams. UCF and Louisville had 11 players each named to the all-conference teams, while Cincinnati had nine players chosen. Cincinnati OT Eric Lefeld was the only unanimous selection to the all-conference team.
2013 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE FOOTBALL AWARDS
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Blake Bortles, QB, UCF (Jr., Oveido, Fla.)
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Marcus Smith, DE, Louisville (Sr., Columbus, Ga.)
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Demarcus Ayers, RS, Houston (Fr., Lancaster, Texas)
Tom Hornsey, P, Memphis (Sr., Geelong, Victoria, Australia)
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
John O’Korn, QB, Houston (Fr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE COACH OF THE YEAR
George O’Leary, UCF
|
ALL-CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM |
|
OFFENSE |
|
Pos. |
Player |
School |
Cl. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Hometown/Last School |
|
WR |
Deontay Greenberry |
Houston |
So. |
6-3 |
198 |
Fresno, Calif./Washington Union |
|
WR |
DeVante Parker |
Louisville |
Jr. |
6-3 |
209 |
Louisville, Ky./Ballard |
|
OT |
Eric Lefeld * |
Cincinnati |
Jr. |
6-6 |
309 |
Coldwater, Ohio/Coldwater |
|
OT |
Jamon Brown |
Louisville |
Jr. |
6-6 |
350 |
Fern Creek, Ky./Fern Creek |
|
OG |
Jordan McCray |
UCF |
Sr. |
6-3 |
310 |
Miami, Fla./Southridge |
|
OG |
Justin McCray |
UCF |
Sr. |
6-3 |
310 |
Miami, Fla./Southridge |
|
C |
Jake Smith |
Louisville |
Jr. |
6-4 |
312 |
Jacksonville, Ala./Jacksonville |
|
TE |
Blake Annen |
Cincinnati |
Sr. |
6-5 |
250 |
Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington |
|
TE |
Tyler Kroft |
Rutgers |
So. |
6-6 |
240 |
Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East |
|
QB |
Blake Bortles |
UCF |
Jr. |
6-4 |
230 |
Oveido, Fla./Oveido |
|
RB |
Storm Johnson |
UCF |
Jr. |
6-0 |
215 |
Loganville, Ga./Miami (Fla.) |
|
RB |
Paul James |
Rutgers |
So. |
6-0 |
210 |
Glassboro, N.J./Glassboro |
|
K |
Jake Elliott |
Memphis |
Fr. |
5-10 |
160 |
Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township |
|
RS |
Ralph David Abernathy IV |
Cincinnati |
Jr. |
5-7 |
161 |
Atlanta, Ga./Westminster School |
|
RS |
Demarcus Ayers |
Houston |
Fr. |
5-10 |
173 |
Lancaster, Texas/Lancaster |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DEFENSE |
|
Pos. |
Player |
School |
Cl. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Hometown/Last School |
|
DL |
Jordan Stepp |
Cincinnati |
Sr. |
6-1 |
285 |
Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis |
|
DL |
Marcus Smith |
Louisville |
Sr. |
6-3 |
252 |
Columbus, Ga./Hardaway |
|
DL |
Martin Ifedi |
Memphis |
Jr. |
6-3 |
265 |
Houston, Texas/Westside |
|
DL |
Aaron Lynch |
USF |
So. |
6-6 |
244 |
Cape Coral, Fla./Notre Dame |
|
LB |
Terrance Plummer |
UCF |
Jr. |
6-1 |
234 |
Orange Park, Fla./Orange Park |
|
LB |
Yawin Smallwood |
UConn |
Jr. |
6-4 |
236 |
Worcester, Mass./Doherty |
|
LB |
Tyler Matakevich |
Temple |
So. |
6-1 |
230 |
Stratford, Conn./Milford Academy |
|
CB |
Jacoby Glenn |
UCF |
Fr. |
6-0 |
176 |
Prichard, Ala./Vigor |
|
CB |
Charles Gaines |
Louisville |
So. |
5-11 |
174 |
Miami, Fla./Central |
|
S |
Calvin Pryor |
Louisville |
Jr. |
6-2 |
208 |
Port St. Joe, Fla./Port St. Joe |
|
S |
Hakeem Smith |
Louisville |
Sr. |
6-2 |
179 |
Jonesboro, Ga./Riverdale |
|
P |
Tom Hornsey |
Memphis |
Sr. |
6-3 |
210 |
Geelong, Victoria, Australia/St. Joseph’s College |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* unanimous selection |
|
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|
|
|
|
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|
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|
ALL-CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM |
|
OFFENSE |
|
Pos. |
Player |
School |
Cl. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Hometown/Last School |
|
WR |
Anthony McClung |
Cincinnati |
Sr. |
6-0 |
177 |
Indianapolis, Ind./Pike |
|
WR |
J.J. Worton |
UCF |
Jr. |
6-2 |
211 |
Homestead, Fla./South Dade |
|
WR |
Jeremy Johnson |
SMU |
Sr. |
6-0 |
179 |
Tyler, Texas/John Tyler |
|
OT |
Chris Martin |
UCF |
Sr. |
6-5 |
303 |
Fort Walton Beach, Fla./Choctawhatchee |
|
OT |
DeAnthony Sims |
Houston |
Sr. |
6-3 |
320 |
Houston, Texas/Westbury |
|
OG |
Sam Longo |
Cincinnati |
Sr. |
6-5 |
305 |
Spring Valley, Ohio/Ohio State |
|
OG |
John Miller |
Louisville |
Jr. |
6-2 |
321 |
Miami, Fla./Central |
|
C |
Betim Bujari |
Rutgers |
Jr. |
6-4 |
295 |
Secaucus, N.J./Secaucus |
|
TE |
Mike McFarland |
USF |
Jr. |
6-5 |
244 |
Tampa, Fla./Florida |
|
QB |
Teddy Bridgewater |
Louisville |
Jr. |
6-3 |
205 |
Miami, Fla./Northwestern |
|
RB |
William Stanback |
UCF |
Fr. |
5-11 |
205 |
Hempstead, N.Y./Uniondale |
|
RB |
Marcus Shaw |
USF |
Sr. |
5-9 |
178 |
Arcadia, Fla./De Soto |
|
K |
Shawn Moffitt |
UCF |
Jr. |
5-11 |
178 |
Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips |
|
RS |
Janarion Grant |
Rutgers |
Fr. |
5-11 |
170 |
Trilby, Fla./Pasco |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DEFENSE |
|
Pos. |
Player |
School |
Cl. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Hometown/Last School |
|
DL |
Silverberry Mouhon |
Cincinnati |
So. |
6-4 |
248 |
Norcross, Ga./Norcross |
|
DL |
Shamar Stephen |
UConn |
Sr. |
6-5 |
313 |
Brookville, N.Y./Long Island Lutheran |
|
DL |
Lorenzo Mauldin |
Louisville |
Jr. |
6-4 |
243 |
Atlanta, Ga./Maynard Jackson |
|
DL |
Luke Sager |
USF |
Sr. |
6-3 |
275 |
Niceville, Fla./Niceville |
|
LB |
Greg Blair |
Cincinnati |
Sr. |
6-2 |
252 |
Pittsburgh, Pa./Lackawanna CC |
|
LB |
Preston Brown |
Louisville |
Sr. |
6-2 |
260 |
Cincinnati, Ohio/Northwest |
|
LB |
DeDe Lattimore |
USF |
Sr. |
6-1 |
237 |
Athens, Ga./Cedar Shoals |
|
CB |
Deven Drane |
Cincinnati |
Sr. |
5-11 |
187 |
Plantation, Fla./Plantation |
|
CB |
Zach McMillian |
Houston |
Sr. |
5-10 |
178 |
Missouri City, Texas/Dulles |
|
CB |
Kenneth Acker |
SMU |
Sr. |
6-0 |
195 |
Portland, Ore./Grant |
|
S |
Clayton Geathers |
UCF |
Jr. |
6-2 |
207 |
Georgetown, S.C./Carver’s Bay |
|
S |
Trevon Stewart |
Houston |
So. |
5-9 |
192 |
Patterson, La./Patterson |
|
P |
Richie Leone |
Houston |
Sr. |
6-3 |
215 |
Roswell, Ga./Roswell |