Football | November 29

DeKALB, Ill. – Defensive end Sutton Smith and quarterback Marcus Childers were named the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively, leading a contingent of 11 total Huskies honored as the league released its 2017 football all-conference teams and specialty awards Wednesday.
 
In addition to becoming just the second Huskie all-time, and the first since Larry English in 2008, to be named the MAC Defensive Player of the Year, Smith (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell HS) was one of four NIU players named to the All-MAC First Team, along with senior cornerback Shawun Lurry (West Palm Beach, Fla./W. T. Dwyer HS), junior offensive tackle Max Scharping (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest HS) and senior tight end Shane Wimann (Wisconsin Dells, Wis./Wisconsin Dells HS).
 
Linebackers Bobby Jones IV (Miami Gardens, Fla./Monsignor Pace HS) and Jawuan Johnson (East St. Louis, Ill./New Boston [Texas] HS) were named to the All-MAC second and third teams, respectively, with senior tailback Jordan Huff (Mobile, Ala./St. Paul's Episcopal HS), sophomore offensive guard Jordan Steckler (Two Rivers, Wis./Two Rivers HS), junior defensive end Josh Corcoran (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South HS) and sophomore wide receiver Spencer Tears (Robbins, Ill./H.L. Richards HS) joining Johnson on the third unit. 
 
NIU's 10 total All-MAC selections ranked third in the league, behind Ohio and Western Michigan with 12 players each. The Huskies' were also third in number of first-team choices with three, behind Toledo (seven) and WMU (five).
 
"Overall I'm really pleased with all 10 of the guys who made the All-MAC team and especially pleased to see that, including Marcus, there were seven underclassmen on the list," Carey said.  "For the seniors, it's a great way to close out their careers and for the seven who are coming back, it's a challenge to build on what they were able to do this year individually, and on what we have been able to do as a team so far going forward. That can start with the bowl game for both the seniors and the young guys with this team getting one more chance to play together."
 
The Huskies' 2017 All-MAC honors went to four seniors, three juniors and three sophomores, along with the freshman honor for Childers.
 
Smith, a sophomore, obliterated the NIU single season record for tackles for loss, surpassing the 33-year-old mark of 20 to finish with 28.5 TFLs, which is also tied for sixth all-time in MAC history and the most by a league player since 2004. He leads all FBS players in tackles for loss and in quarterback sacks with 14, breaking the NIU single season record of 12. His 14 sacks this year are sixth all-time in the MAC and the most by a MAC player since 2006.  He scored twice on fumble returns and has three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries to go with 56 total tackles, more than half of which are tackles for loss.
 
"Sutton is certainly deserving of [Defensive Player of the Year], if not more, and I hope there are more postseason awards to come for him," Carey said. "He played at a consistently high level each week. I'm certainly happy for him to receive these accolades as a sophomore and we look forward to a bright future with him."
 
Childers (Adairsville, Ga./Adairsville HS) is the first NIU player to win the league's Freshman of the Year trophy since NIU rejoined the MAC in 1997, and just the third Huskie all-time to win the award as quarterbacks Marshall Taylor (1985) and Pete Genatempo (1984) were the only previous NIU freshmen honored.  After entering the Kent State game in the first quarter, Childers led NIU to a 6-2 MAC mark. He accounted for almost 1,900 yards of total offense (1,440 passing and 454 rushing) and accounted for 20 touchdowns (15 passing, five rushing). He led NIU in rushing TDs and had a 3:1 touchdowns to interceptions ratio while completing 57.3 percent of his passes (137-of-239).  
 
"It's always tough to gauge freshman but Marcus certainly made a big contribution as a freshman," Carey said.  "I'm happy with his progress this year.  I look forward to him taking the next step, and he has the foundation and experience now to do that."
 
Left tackle Scharping is NIU's only repeat performer on the first team All-MAC from a year ago.  The Huskies' top performing offensive lineman in 2017, Scharping's honor marks the fifth consecutive season NIU has had a first team All-MAC offensive lineman.  
 
"Max, in my estimation is one of, if not the, best left tackle in the league," Carey said. "He and this offense have more to prove and I know he looks forward to doing that as well."
 
Cornerback Lurry is also a two-time first team All-MAC Huskie and now has been named to an All-MAC team in each of the last three seasons as he sandwiched first team selections in 2015 and 2017 with a second team nod in 2016.  Lurry broke the MAC record for career interception return yards with 448, and has six pass break-ups and two interceptions this year while making a career-high 4.5 tackles for loss.     
 
"Obviously we are extremely happy with Shawun," Carey said. "He played with an injury most of the year and still played at a high level. He's going to be missed.  "
 
Wimann is the first NIU tight end to earn MAC first team honors since Brad Cieslak in 2004 and did so while breaking the school record for touchdown catches by a tight end with seven.  A stellar blocker, he caught a career-high 30 passes in 2017, giving the senior 65 for his career. 
 
"Shane's honor is well-deserved and past due," Carey said. "To me, Shane's been the best tight end in the league this year, last year and maybe the year before."
 
Jones, NIU's leading tackler in 2017 with 97, and Johnson, whose five interceptions led the Huskies and rank tied for seventh in the country, lead the second and third team NIU All-MAC contingent.  Corcoran – who had 8.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in his 10 games played - joined Johnson on the third team, giving NIU five defensive All-MAC selections, just one year after having only one defender (Lurry) honored.
 
"The defense certainly played at a high level all year and there could have been even more players in that group with what they were able to do this season," Carey said. "The challenge is going to be to maintain that level of play for them going forward – both in the bowl game and carrying it in to next season."
 
Huff led the Huskies in rushing with 740 yards and a 5.8 per carry average despite missing three games due to injury, while Steckler formed a formidable left side of the NIU line next to Scharping. Tears leads the team in both catches (39) and receiving yards (461) entering the bowl game.
 
NIU completed the regular season with an 8-4 overall record, a three-game improvement from a year ago, and will play in a bowl game for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons.  The Huskies' bowl destination will be announced on Sunday, December 3.  For information on the 2017 MAC Bowl tie-ins, go to NIU Football Bowl Central on NIUHuskies.com. 
 
-- NIU --