10 Bearcats were honored by the American Athletic Conference today.
First Team All-AAC:
OT Dino Boyd
LB Perry Young
DT Cortez Broughton
P James Smith
Here is your 2018 #AmericanFB First Team Offense!
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— American Football (@American_FB) November 28, 2018
Here are your 2018 #AmericanFB First Team Defensive selections!
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— American Football (@American_FB) November 28, 2018
Here are the 2018 #AmericanFB First Team Special Team selections!
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— American Football (@American_FB) November 28, 2018
Second Team All-AAC
C Garrett Campbell
DT Marquise Copeland
TE Josiah DeGuara
DE Kimoni Fitz
RB Mike Warren
S James Wiggins
Here is your 2018 #AmericanFB Second Team Offense!
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— American Football (@American_FB) November 28, 2018
Here’s the 2018 #AmericanFB Second Team Defense!
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— American Football (@American_FB) November 28, 2018
Per GoBearcats
OT Dino Boyd (Newark, N.J./West Side/Rhode Island), DL Cortez Broughton (Warner Robins, Ga./Veterans), P James Smith (Wangaratta, Australia/Galen College) and LB Perry Young (Birmingham, Ala./Spain Park) earned first team honors while C Garrett Campbell (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier), DL Marquise Copeland (Cleveland, Ohio/Bedford), TE Josiah Deguara (Folsom, Calif./Folsom), DL Kimoni Fitz (Ringgold, Va./Dan River), RB Michael Warren II (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic) and S James Wiggins (Miami, Florida/South Dade) took home second-team accolades.
It is UC’s most all-conference awards since 2009 when the Bearcats had 11, the first time a UC player has won the league’s rookie honor and the fifth time a UC coach has earned coach of the year honors, first in the American.The Bearcats wrapped their regular season with 10 wins and a third-place finish in the American Athletic Conference East Division. Returning to postseason play for the first time since the 2015 Hawai‘i Bowl, UC will be going for just the third 11-win season since 1885, trying to match the 2008 (11-3) and 2009 (12-1) squads. UC’s bowl game and opponent will be announced on Sunday. Dec. 2, 2018.
Boyd joined UC in late July as a grad transfer from Rhode Island and started 12 games at left tackle, helping block for an offensive unit which ranked No. 16 in the NCAA FBS averaging 238.1 yards per game and had the team’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2012.
Broughton ranks No. 5 in the American in sacks (0.54 per game) and no. 5 in tackles for loss (1.46 per game). His season numbers (6.5 sacks, 17.5 TFL) surpassed his career numbers entering 2018 (3.5 sacks, 10 TFL).
Smith is one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award. He leads the AAC and is No. 4 in the NCAA FBS averaging 47.0 ypp. The Bearcats led the American in net punting and rank No. 2 in the NCAA FBS (44.5). Smith had a career-long 72-yard punt against Temple and dropped 23 kicks inside the 20-yard line with 16 going 50 yards or more with only one touchback.
Young totaled 45 tackles in eight games but missed the final three games of the season due to a torn ACL suffered against Navy. He had a season-high nine tackles twice, against Tulane and at Temple and also totaled 2.5 tackles for a loss and a 27-yard fumble return.
Campbell, a sixth-year senior who started his career as a walk-on, was the heart and soul of the UC offense this season. He suffered a fractured ankle against UConn, but returned to action six weeks and three days after undergoing surgery to play the entire game at then No. 11 UCF. On senior day against ECU, he started at left guard due to an illness and played the first three quarters before the first team came out.
Copeland helped lead a defensive line unit which racked up 22.5 of UC’s 31 sacks and 47 of the team’s 76 tackles for a loss. He finished with 46 tackles, 7.0 for a loss, 3.5 sacks, four QB hurries and a pair of pass break ups.
Deguara was UC’s second-leading receiver on the year with 27 receptions for 465 yards and five touchdowns. Those numbers are the best for a UC tight end since Travis Kelce finished with 45 receptions for 722 yards and 8 TDs in 2012. Deguara entered the season with 15 catches for 145 yards and no scores. He had a career-best 112-yard day with a TD at UConn, had a reception in every game and caught three or more balls in seven games.
Fitz had his best season at UC, posting career bests with 51 tackles, 9.0 TFLs, 4.5 sacks, four QB hurries and a pass break up. He finished with a career-high eight tackles against Ohio and Navy, finished with five or more stops in seven games and scored his first career TD on a fumble recovery in the end zone at then No. 11 UCF.
Warren rushed for 1,163 yards in 11 games, had a school-record overall 18 TDs and a school-record tying 17 rushing scores. He had a career-best 151 yards rushing with three TDs against USF, finished with six 100-yard games, including four-in-a-row in the middle of the season and had an 81-yard TD run against Tulane which was the second-longest scoring run in program history and the longest rushing score since 1953.
Wiggins tallied 51 tackles on the season, including a career-best 10 at Temple and his three interceptions were all game-changing plays. His first career interception came in the second quarter at UCLA which led to a Warren TD which gave the Bearcats a lead they would not relinquish. Interception No. 2 came in the waning minutes against Ohio when he picked off a pass on the goal line which ended the Bobcats threat and sealed the game for UC. Wiggins’ third interception came in overtime at SMU, an 86-yard interception return for a TD which gave UC its first extra-period win since 2008. The 86-yard run back was the fourth longest in school history and longest since current UC CB coach Mike Mickens had a 79 yard INT return for a TD against USF in 2007.
