Cincinnati has Eight Named to AAC All-Conference Teams

Yesterday, the American Athletic Conference announced their postseason award winners, headlined by Navy's Keenan Reynolds being named the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year and Temple's Tyler Matakevich earning the distinction of American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Jake Elliott, the kicker from Memphis, was named the Conference Special Teams Player of the Year and UCF wide receiver Tre'Quan Smith was named the Conference Rookie of the Year. Tom Herman and Ken Niumatalolo earned the title of American Athletic Conference Coaches of the Year, leading Houston (11-1) and Navy (9-2), respectively, to fantastic seasons.

Cincinnati turned their 7-5 (4-4) season record into eight All-Conference designations. Offensive tackle Parker Ehinger is the only Bearcat to be selected to the All-Conference First-Team. Center Deyshawn Bond, offensive guard Ryan Leahy, defensive end Silverberry Mouhon, linebacker Eric Wilson, kicker Andrew Gantz and wide receiver Shaq Washington all were named to the All-Conference Second Team, with safety Zach Edwards named an All-Conference Honorable Mention.

Ehringer, Bond and Leahy were solid, consistent players for the Bearcats all season as the offense accumulated yards and put up points in bunches. The offensive line, as a whole, only allowed 22 sacks all season and set up the quarterbacks to throw for 4,477 yards. They led the way for Cincinnati's run game as well, which rushed for 2,236 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Mouhon was a little quieter than expected this season, but still made plays, racking up 4.5 sacks with five quarterback hurries. He had 38 total tackles and seven tackles for a loss. Wilson was a tackle machine, accumulating 103 total tackles. He also had two of Cincinnati's five fumble recoveries. Edwards was the second leading tackler from the safety spot. He had 87 total tackles and added three interceptions.

Gantz was solid all year, hitting 21-of-27 field goals on the year with a long of 51. Three of those misses were from beyond 50 yards. He also missed only one extra point on the year, going 48-of-49. He scored 111 points on the year, which is a single-season school record for points scored by a kicker.

Washington was phenomenal this season with a school record 88 receptions for 971 yards and six touchdowns. He set the career mark for receptions (238) this season and also reeled in a school record 15 receptions last weekend against East Carolina.

The AAC had a great season as a conference with three teams in the AP Top 25 and Amway Coaches Polls heading into the Conference Championship games this weekend. Houston, Navy, Memphis, Temple and even South Florida weren't supposed to be this good, but all five teams surprised with big-time players stepping up into starring roles. Sure, it would have been great to see a little more Cincinnati love with the First Team, but when you look at the selections below, courtesy of the American Postseason Honor Announcement, you have to just come away impressed with the quality of the conference as a whole. Particularly for a Group of Five Conference, there are so many good and great players. Cincinnati's 7-5 regular season is disappointing, but their losses came, in large part, because of the star talent below.

^{1 2 H} indicates previous selections to first team, second team, or honorable mention