Conference USA Announces All-Freshman Team

DALLAS – Conference USA announced its 2021 All-Freshman football team Tuesday, as selected by the league’s 14 head football coaches. Old Dominion and Charlotte produced a league-high four players on the team, while North Texas and Rice both had three players selected to the squad. All told, nine C-USA teams were represented on the all-freshman squad.

Old Dominion had an offensive lineman, defensive end, linebacker and punt returner selected. Left tackle Santana Saunders represents the offensive line, while DE Amorie Morrison (32 total tackles, 5.0 tackles-for-loss, 3.5 sacks, five quarterback hurries and a blocked kick) and LB Jason Henderson (65 total tackles, 3.5 tackles-for-loss, a sack, a forced fumble and fumble recovery) earned spots on the defensive side of the ball. PR Isiah Page, also an All-Conference honorable mention selection, averages 10.93 yards per return, which ranks fourth in all of C-USA.

Charlotte’s four selections include a pair of spots on the team for Shadrick Byrd, who earned selection at both running back and kick returner (132 carries for 583 yards and three touchdowns with 20 catches for 248 yards and two more scores, while also averaging 22.8 yards per kick return), as well as WR Elijah Spencer (28 catches for 381 yards and six touchdowns) and P Bailey Rice (averaging 42.2 yards per attempt on 40 punts).

Two offensive and one defensive standouts represent North Texas on the All-Freshman Team. RB Ayo Adeyi is joined by OL Gabe Blair and DT Roderick Brown. Adeyi, a walk-on, has 78 carries for 479 yards and six touchdowns in nine appearances for the Mean Green. Blair has started at left guard in 10 of his 11 appearances for an offensive line that paved the way for the third-ranked rushing attack in the country (245.2 yards per game), while Brown has 19 total tackles, 4.0 tackles-for-loss, three sacks and two fumble recoveries.

All three of Rice’s representatives on the All-Freshman Team are on the defensive side of the ball, LB Aidan Siano, as well as DBs Jordan Dunbar and Sean Fresch. Siano had 15 tackles with a half sack in 12 appearances, primarily on special teams, though he started the final three games at linebacker. Dunbar recorded 29 tackles and nine pass break-ups for the Owls, appearing in all 12 games. Fresch had 27 tackles, an interception and six pass break-ups in 12 appearances.

Louisiana Tech is one of four programs with two representatives on the All-Freshman Team, WR Bub Means (22 catches for 430 yards and two touchdowns, and ranks 13^th in the FBS in yards per reception at 19.55) and DE Ben Bell (27 total tackles, 6.0 tackles-for-loss and 3.5 sacks with two forced fumbles).

Middle Tennessee also has two players who earned All-Freshman distinction, QB Nicholas Vattiato, (completed 92-136 passes for 777 yards with five touchdown passes, starting the final four games of the regular season) and DB Deidrick Stanley (11 tackles, 3.0 tackles-for-loss, a sack, an interception and two forced fumbles).

UAB OL Trey Bedosky and DB Mac McWilliams are the two that make up the Blazers’ contingent on the All-Freshman Team. Bedosky was utilized primarily in jumbo packages and on special teams, while McWilliams has 24 tackles, three of which are for loss, and four pass break-ups in seven appearances.

C-USA champion UTSA also has a pair of representatives on the All-Freshman Team. TE Dan Dishman, has two receptions for 20 yards in seven appearances this season and has played a key role for a unit that ranks second in the conference in scoring (37.8 ppg) and third in total offense (442.9 ypg).

East Division champion WKU’s LS Jake Bowman is the Hilltoppers’ lone representative on the All-Freshman Team. He has played a major role in the success of K Brayden Narveson and P John Haggerty III’s success in the kicking game this year for the Hilltoppers.

The league’s individual awards, including Freshman of the Year, will be released Wednesday, December 8. Conference USA will conclude the 2021 season by sending eight teams to bowl games, the second-most in league history.

OFFENSE

QB: Nicholas Vattiato, Middle Tennessee

RB: Shadrick Byrd, Charlotte

RB: Ayo Adeyi, North Texas

WR: Bub Means, Louisiana Tech

WR: Elijah Spencer, Charlotte

TE: Dan Dishman, UTSA

OL: Trey Bedosky, UAB

OL: Gabe Blair, North Texas

OL: Santana Saunders, Old Dominion

DEFENSE

DE: Amorie Morrison, Old Dominion