DEKALB, Ill. – Northern Illinois University wide receiver Tyrice Richie (Chicago, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor HS/Dodge City CC) headlines a group of eight Huskies named to the 2020 All Mid-American Conference Football Team as selected by MAC head coaches, the league announced Tuesday.
 
Richie, who had a breakout year in the abbreviated 2020 season, earned first-team honors, while four Huskies ­– tight end Daniel Crawford (Macomb, Mich./Dakota HS), defensive tackle Weston Kramer (Naperville, Ill./Marmion Academy), cornerback Jordan Gandy (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb HS) and kick returner Trayvon Rudolph (Crete, Ill./Crete-Monee HS) – garnered second-team accolades. Center Brayden Patton (Elletsville, Ind./Edgewood HS), linebacker Kyle Pugh (Chicago Heights, Ill./Bloom Township HS) and safety Devin Lafayette (Brunswick, Ga./Brunswick HS) round out the Huskie honorees as the trio were named third-team selections.
 
"We're obviously proud of these young men," said second-year NIU head coach Thomas Hammock. "They put the work in to get recognized by the coaches in the conference. They went out and competed each and every week and put plays on tape. The great thing is that seven of the eight players on this list will be back and they have a chance to improve on what they did this year."
 
In six games, Richie topped his totals from a year ago, amassing 597 yards, which ranked third in the MAC, on 53 receptions. His 8.8 receptions per game led the conference and ranked fourth in the country.
 
"The jump that Tyrice made from last year to this year was phenomenal," Hammock said. "Coach Sorrentino did a great job with him, helping him to be a better technician. Tyrice is strong, he's competitive and he came down with the ball.  His best football is in front of him and we couldn't be more excited that he will be here to continue his development."
 
The senior from Chicago matched last season's touchdown tally with a team-best four. Richie recorded four 100-yard receiving games in 2020, becoming just the eighth player in Huskie history to have four or more 100-yard games in a season and the first since Kenny Golladay in 2016.
 
Second on the team in receptions with 21 for 187 yards and a touchdown, Crawford averaged 30.5 yards per game receiving this year. Kramer tallied 17 tackles, including three for loss, in six starts at defensive tackle for the Huskies.
 
The nation's second-youngest team with 81 underclassmen, it's only fitting that almost half NIU's all-MAC selections were from those ranks.
 
NIU's leading tackler, Gandy made quite an impression in his first season with the Huskies. The sophomore who came to NIU via South Dakota State, tallied 41 tackles, seven pass break ups and an interception. Rudolph made the All-MAC Team as a kickoff return specialist.
 
The Huskie freshman surpassed the total kickoff return yards compiled by the Huskie team in 2019 with 151 yards on five returns in the season opener. Rudolph finished the year with 717 kickoff return yards and eight punt return yards and leads the nation in combined kick return yards (725) while ranking 10^th in the country in all-purpose yards per game. He also added 232 yards receiving on 14 catches.
 
"Trayvon and Devin were two young men that came into the program with a desire to play and compete," he said. "They didn't have an offseason or a spring and to jump right into the season during the school year and play the way they did was phenomenal and speaks to their competitiveness.
 
"Jordan Gandy is another newcomer that came into the program and from the first day, he competed. We saw something early, and he was the same guy every day, it's great to see his hard work pay off."
 
Lafayette, a freshman safety, tallied 36 stops, including a sack, and an interception to earn his place on the All-MAC squad. Pugh, who missed 10 games last season, returned to the field in 2020 and to the All-MAC team. A second-team selection 2018, Pugh was solid in five games totaling 36 tackles, three-and-a-half tackles for loss and one-and-a-half sacks.
 
Patton, who started all six games for NIU at center, garnered his first all-conference selection. The anchor on the Huskie offensive line, Patton made the move to center the final two games of 2019. He helped pave the way for Huskie offense that saw Harrison Waylee reach the 100-yard mark in each of the final two games of 2020 and Richie's four 100-yard receiving contests.
 
"These seniors – Crawford, Kramer, Patton, Pugh – played well this year and they gave us a chance," Hammock said. "They were surrounded by youth, and they were the guys that steadied the ship. They provided a steadying presence for us as coaches that we could rely on.  I'm happy for Daniel Crawford, he's a sixth-year guy who now has two degrees from NIU, he worked hard, bounced back from injuries and finished his career as a second team All-MAC performer."
 
-NIU-