Football Tabbed for Two Major Awards, Places Nine on All-ECAC Teams

Football Tabbed for Two Major Awards, Places Nine on All-ECAC Teams

12.7.17 | Football

PHILADELPHIA - The Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference announced Thursday morning its honorees for its five major annual awards, not to mention the league's first- and second-team selections. For the season, Temple saw both redshirt freshman DT Dan Archibong and first-year head coach Geoff Collins bring home prestigious honors, with the former earning Defensive Rookie of the Year and the latter grabbing Coach of the Year. Meanwhile, nine other Owls found themselves voted onto the All-ECAC teams, including three first-team and six second-team selections.

Collins took over the program's reigns just under a year ago, and had his work cut out for him with Temple losing crucial Owls across a number of important positions, many of whom led back-to-back appearances in the American Athletic Conference Championship the previous two seasons, including a win for last year's squad. Instead of allowing Temple to fall below the bowl eligibility line, the first-year head coach guided his squad to a 6-6 mark, winning three of the final four games to reach postseason qualification. Moving forward, Collins aims to capture the program's first bowl victory since 2011 as the Owls face off against FIU at the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl on December 21.

Meanwhile, Archibong managed to serve a significant role on a veteran defense throughout the year, taking over a full-time role at defensive tackle early on in the season. While the redshirt freshman's statistics may not prove impressive (17 tackles, 1.5 TFLs & 1.0 sack on nine starts), he played a critical role in Temple's defensive scheme, absorbing blockers in order to clear a path for linebackers to rack up tackles. In short, Archibong succeeded, as all three primary starters at linebacker ranked in the top five tacklers for the team (Shaun Bradley - 81; Chapelle Russell - 70; Sam Franklin - 52).

Speaking of defense, the Owls capitalized on their depth and experience across on both the defensive line and in the secondary, as four of the team's nine All-ECAC selections came from those two units. In fact, all three first-team choices are Temple defenders - redshirt senior DE Sharif Finch, senior DE Jacob Martin and junior S Delvon Randall. Senior S Sean Chandler, along with Bradley at linebacker, got the nod on second-team. All five each had career years at their respective positions, with Finch and Martin racking up career highs in sacks and tackles-for-loss, Randall and Chandler pulling down a combined six interceptions and career-bests in tackles while Bradley quietly led the defense in total tackles.

The remaining four slots, all on the All-ECAC second-team, fell to the Temple offense. Three came from the Owls' vaunted offensive line - redshirt seniors RT Cole Boozer and RG Brian Carter along with redshirt freshman C Matt Hennessy - while senior WR Adonis Jennings represented the receiving corps. On the year, Boozer served as the only offensive player to start every game, holding down the right tackle position all season, while Carter and Hennessy missed only one game each due to injury. The trio led a unit that supported a pair of first-time starters at quarterback, not to mention played a major role in the development of RB David Hood, who twice broke his own career-best for rushing yards in a game (at ECU - 106; at Cincinnati - 108). Jennings finished out his career at Temple by leading the team in receiving yards, picking up 691 yards and seven touchdowns on 39 catches, consistently outpacing defenders as the offense's most notable deep threat.

The ECAC consists of members across all three divisions of collegiate sports, and boasts 12 DI - FBS programs on its roster of supporting programs. The FBS programs include: Army, Boston College, UConn, Maryland, UMass, Navy, Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Temple.