DeKALB, Ill. – Wide receiver Kenny Golladay, offensive tackle Max Scharping and kickoff returner Aregeros Turner led a contingent of six Northern Illinois University football players named to the 2016 All Mid-American Conference Team Wednesday. 
 
Golladay, Scharping and Turner were named first team All-MAC in voting by league coaches, while tailback Joel Bouagnon, offensive tackle Levon Myers and cornerback Shawun Lurry earned second team honors.
 
"Kenny, Max and Aregeros are very deserving of first-team honors," said NIU Head Coach Rod Carey. "Each of them had outstanding individual seasons. Kenny and Aregeros helped lead us through a tough start to the season as did Joel and Levon and the rest of our senior class.
 
Despite working with four different starting quarterbacks, Golladay put together one of the best seasons by a receiver in school history in 2016.  The Chicago product (St. Rita HS) caught 87 passes for 1,156 yards and eight touchdowns, while rushing for 192 yards on 20 carries and two scores. His 87 catches rank second on the NIU single season chart for receptions while the yardage total is third. He became the first NIU receiver to record two 1,000-yard receiving seasons and in just two years as a Huskie, ranks fifth in career catches (160) and fifth in receiving yards (2,285). Golladay was a second-team all-MAC choice as a junior.
 
Turner (Akron, Ohio/Copley HS) was named the first team all-conference kick returner for the second consecutive year after leading the league with a kickoff return average of 25.8 yards on 30 returns. Turner set the NIU career records for both kickoff returns (102) and kickoff return yards (2,499) and added 40 catches for 415 yards and three scores. He finished the season ranked second among all current FBS players in career kickoff return yards and fourth in kickoff returns. He ranks sixth all-time at NIU in all-purpose yards.
 
"For Max, this season was just the tip of the iceberg and it's great to see him recognized as a sophomore," Carey said. "We look for big things from him going forward."
 
Scharping (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest HS) and second team selection Myers (Franklin, Wis./Franklin HS) were the bookend tackles on an offensive line that ranked second in the country in fewest sacks allowed as Huskie quarterbacks were sacked just eight times on the year. The Huskies averaged 239.8 rushing and 224.0 passing yards per game in 2016 for a total of 463.8 yards per game. NIU's per game averages ranked 50, 16 and 65 yards higher than a year ago. Myers was named to the All-MAC second team for the second consecutive season.
 
"I'm very happy to see Joel, Levon and Shawun named to the All-MAC second team," Carey said.  "Joel and Levon individually had great years and were a big part of our offense, as well as providing senior leadership." 
 
Bouagnon (Aurora, Ill./Aurora Christian HS) was the workhorse of the Huskie backfield with 885 yards on 182 carries for a 4.9 yards per carry average with eight rushing touchdowns. He caught a career-best 17 passes for 157 yards and was a major factor as a blocker.  He had three 100-yard rushing games in 2016 and eight for his career.  He ranks 11^th in rushing all-time at NIU with 2,911 yards.  He collected all-league honors for the second straight season.
 
"I'm really proud of our entire offense," Carey said. "We had four different quarterbacks start games, and we still put up better numbers offensively than we did a year ago. Coach Uremovich, our offensive staff and especially the players on offense did a great job this season. The proof of that was in seeing five offensive players make the all-conference team, including two tackles off an offensive line that ranked second in the country giving up just eight sacks all year.
 
"Shawun played through a lot of bumps and bruises all year. When he was in there, he played really well, even though he didn't have the same spectacular interception numbers that he did a year ago."
 
Despite missing two full games and more than three quarters of another due to injury, Lurry (W. Palm Beach, Fla./W.T. Dwyer HS) made 38 tackles, including 26 solo, in 2016, and led NIU with 11 pass break-ups and three interceptions.  His 11 break-ups tied for the ninth-highest single season total ever at NIU and give him 27 PBUs for his career to rank fifth all-time. He was named to an All-MAC team for the second time.
 
"Defensively, I was really happy with the improvement we made through the year on that side of the ball, even though it didn't really show in the numbers. I think there were several of our defensive players who were deserving of making one of the All-MAC teams."
 
NIU's three first-team selections ranked fourth among league teams behind Toledo (7), Western Michigan (4) and Ohio (4).  The Huskies finished the regular season by winning four of their last five games en route to a 5-7 overall record. NIU finished 5-3 in the MAC to place third in the MAC West.
 
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