Conference USA Announces Football Players of the Year (Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021)

DALLAS – Conference USA announced its 2021 Players of the Year Wednesday, as selected by the league’s 14 head football coaches. Eight C-USA teams are slated to continue their season in bowl games later this month.

WKU QB Bailey Zappe was selected as the C-USA Most Valuable Player Award after his stellar season in Bowling Green. Zappe, a Manning Award finalist and Walter Camp Player of the Year and Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist, has had a record-smashing season for the East Division champion Hilltoppers, breaking the Conference USA and program record for touchdown passes (56) in a single-season, and is within range of potentially breaking the single-season FBS records for touchdown passes (60) and passing yardage (5,833). Zappe helped lead WKU to seven-straight wins during the season en route to the 2021 Ryan Conference USA Championship Game, where he threw for 577 yards and four touchdowns. His 577 yards passing were the most in a single game by any quarterback in the country this season, and set a new C-USA Championship Game record. He has completed 442-639 (69.2%) passes for 5,545 yards, 56 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Zappe leads the FBS in passing yards per game (426.5), passing touchdowns (56) and touchdowns responsible for (59). Zappe is just the sixth player in FBS history to achieve a 5,000-yard, 50-touchdown campaign.

UTSA RB Sincere McCormick is the league’s Offensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season. He has rushed for 1,479 yards and 15 touchdowns on 298 carries — all UTSA records — and caught 22 passes for 184 yards in 13 games this fall. The Converse Judson High School product has topped the 100-yard mark on the ground in a program-record and league-best eight games, including rushing for 204 yards and three TDs in the 49-41 victory against WKU in the C-USA Championship Game. The All-American broke his own UTSA standard for single-game attempts with 41 for 184 yards and three scores in the 31-28 comeback win at Memphis, and he also reached the end zone three times after rushing for 113 yards in the 45-16 victory over Louisiana Tech. A semifinalist for both the Doak Walker and Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Awards, McCormick leads C-USA and ranks fifth in the FBS in rushing yards and he sits 10th nationally in rushing touchdowns.

WKU DE DeAngelo Malone is now a two-time winner of the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year Award (also won in 2019), becoming the fourth player in league history to take home those honors twice. Malone tied for the C-USA lead with 16.5 tackles for loss and ranked second with eight sacks. He ranked 12th in C-USA with 88 total tackles, although that number leads the nation among defensive linemen. The Atlanta, Georgia, native is tied for the league lead with four forced fumbles, which is also ninth among all FBS defenders. Malone went wire-to-wire in 2021 after being voted the league’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches ahead of the 2021 season.

FIU P Tommy Heatherly is the league’s Special Teams Player of the Year, becoming the first Panther to earn that distinction in program history. Heatherly boasts each of the two best single-season punting averages in program history – including the top mark of 46.8 set in 2021 – which ranked eighth nationally and led C-USA. The Grove, Oklahoma, native placed 21 punts inside the 20-yard line and boomed 27 punts over 50 yards this season – he also forced 12 fair catches by opponents. Heatherly had a punt of at least 60 yards in six games in 2021. Heatherly’s 3,418 total punting yards rank as the fourth-most nationally in 2021. 

Charlotte WR Elijah Spencer was named the league’s Freshman of the Year after a breakout season for the 49ers. Spencer was Charlotte’s third-leading receiver and shared team-high honors with six touchdown receptions. The true freshman pulled in both the game-tying and game-winning touchdowns passes on back-to-back offensive plays in the 49ers’ overtime victory over Rice. He also had touchdown catches against Georgia State, Middle Tennessee, Illinois and Old Dominion. His four touchdown catches in C-USA play matched the 49ers team-high. Spencer hauled in 28 catches for 381 yards and six touchdowns on the season in 12 appearances.

WKU WR Jerreth Sterns is the conference’s Newcomer of the Year after his record-setting season for the Hilltoppers. Sterns’ 137 receptions (a single-season C-USA record), 1,718 yards and 14 touchdowns led all league receivers. Sterns is the national leader in catches, receptions per game (10.6), receiving yards and receiving yards per game (132.2). Sterns, a native of Waxahachie, Texas, has 57 more catches than C-USA’s second-leading receiver and 39 more than the second-leading receiver in the FBS. Entering the Hilltoppers’ bowl game, Sterns ranks seventh in FBS history with his 137 catches, just 21 behind the record-holder Zay Jones of East Carolina (158 in 2016).

-ConferenceUSA.com-