5 hours Ago By TIMES-NEWS
Fifteen Idaho Vandals and four Idaho State Bengals earned spots on the All-Big Sky team, released Wednesday. Idaho boasted seven First Team selections — offensive tackle Ayden Knapik, defensive end Keyshawn James-Newby, defensive tackle Dallas Afalava, linebacker Jaxton Eck, defensive back Tommy McCormick, cornerback Andrew Marshall and defensive back/special teams player Dwayne McDougle. Idaho's 15 honors marked the second most, behind Big Sky champions Montana State.
Idaho State wide receivers Jeff Weimer and Christian Fredericksen occupied two of the three First Team wide receiver spots. Idaho State kicker Gabe Panikowski grabbed First Team honors. Idaho wide receiver Jordan Dwyer and tight end Mike Martinez earned Second Team recognition with Idaho State offensive lineman Stryker Rashid.
Idaho wide receiver Mark Hamper, offensive lineman Nate Azzopardi, defensive end Malakai Williams, linebacker Isiah King and linebacker Zach Johnson received Honorable Mention status. Williams also became an Honorable Mention kick returner. Honorable Mention players must have received at least three votes.
The conference’s coaches selected the teams. Knapik remains one of Idaho’s offensive line anchors while James-Newby leads the Big Sky with nine sacks. He is a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the Football Championship Series defensive player of the year.
The winner will be announced Jan. 4. Afalava boasted five sacks, seven tackles for loss and eight quarterback hurries.
Weimer leads ISU with 1,016 receiving yards, which ranks second in the Big Sky. He boasts six touchdowns. Fredricksen, who only played nine games, finished second in the conference with an average of 109.
3 receiving yards a game. He totaled 839 receiving yards. His eight receiving touchdowns led the Bengals.
Panikowski led the Big Sky with 100% field goal completion rate (15-for-15). He boasted a long of 55 yards. Montana State led the All-Big Sky teams with four of the top honors, including quarterback Tommy Mellott as Offensive Player of the Year, defensive lineman Brody Grebe as Defensive Player of the Year, running back Adam Jones as Freshman of the Year and Brent Vigen as Coach of the Year.
Northern Arizona’s Ty Pennington claimed Newcomer of the Year. Montana State earned its first 12-0 season and first outright conference title since 2011. ISU (5-7 overall, 3-5 Big Sky) finished its season.
Idaho (9-3 overall, 6-2 Big Sky) earned the No. 8 seed in the FCS Playoffs and will host the winner of No. 9 Richmond/Lehigh at 7 p.
m. Dec. 7 in the Second Round.
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