SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference’s nine football coaches have selected their annual all-conference teams and specialty awards for the 2020-21 season. There were ties for three of the five individual awards selected by the coaches. Samford graduate quarterback Liam Welch and VMI junior wide receiver Jakob Herres shared Offensive Player of the Year honors, while linebackers Jared Folks of ETSU and Stone Snyder of VMI were named the defensive players of the year. VMI quarterback Seth Morgan was named the freshman of the year and the Keydets’ Scott Wachenheim was named the coach of the year for the second straight year. ETSU’s Tre’mond Shorts and Chattanooga’s Cole Strange earned the Jacobs Blocking Award.
 
The coaches, who could not vote for their own players, selected all-conference first and second teams and all-freshman teams on offense, defense and special teams. Due to ties in the voting, there were additional spots at defensive line, linebacker and punter on the all-conference second team and on the all-freshman defensive team.
 
 
2020-21 Coaches All-Southern Conference Football Team
 
Offensive Player of the Year – Liam Welch, Gr., QB, Samford
Offensive Player of the Year – Jakob Herres, Jr., WR, VMI
Defensive Player of the Year ­– Jared Folks, Gr., ETSU
Defensive Player of the Year ­– Stone Snyder, So., VMI
Freshman of the Year – Seth Morgan, QB, VMI
Jacobs Blocking Award – Tre’mond Shorts, R-Jr., OL, ETSU
Jacobs Blocking Award – Cole Strange, Sr., OL, Chattanooga
Coach of the Year – Scott Wachenheim, VMI
 
First team offense
QB       Liam Welch, Gr., Samford
RB       Quay Holmes, R-Jr., ETSU
RB       Donnavan Spencer, R-Sr., Western Carolina
OL        Tre'mond Shorts, R-Jr., ETSU
OL        Anderson Tomlin, R-So., Furman
OL        McClendon Curtis, Jr., Chattanooga
OL        Marshall Gill, Jr., VMI
OL        Isaiah Helms, So., Western Carolina
TE        Nate Adkins, Jr., ETSU
WR      Ty King, So., Samford
WR      Jakob Herres, Jr., VMI
 
First team defense
DL        Armond Lloyd, Gr., Samford
DL        Devonnsha Maxwell, Jr., Chattanooga
DL        Jordan Ward, Sr., VMI
DL        Micheal Mason, So., Wofford
LB        Jared Folks, Gr., ETSU
LB        Willie Eubanks III, Sr., The Citadel
LB        Donovan Manuel, R-So., ETSU
DB       Tyree Robinson, Sr., ETSU
DB       Lance Wise, So., Mercer
DB       Chris Edmonds, So., Samford
DB       AJ Smith, Sr., VMI
 
First team special teams
PK        Mitchell Fineran, Jr., Samford
P          Matt Campbell, Jr., The Citadel
RS       Montrell Washington, Sr., Samford
 
Second team offense
QB       Reece Udinski, Sr., VMI
RB       Devin Wynn, Sr., Furman
RB       Deondre Johnson, R-So., Mercer
OL        Haden Haas, R-Jr., The Citadel
OL        Gavin Orr, Jr., Samford
OL        Mike Williams, Sr., Samford
OL        Cole Strange, Sr., Chattanooga
OL        Nick Hartnett, R-So., VMI
TE        Ryan Miller, Jr., Furman
WR      Montrell Washington, Sr., Samford
WR      Reginald Henderson, Sr., Chattanooga
 
Second team defense
DL        Cameron Coleman, R-So., Furman
DL        DJ McDaniel, Jr., Mercer
DL        Solomon Zubairu, So., Mercer
DL        Nelson Jordan, Jr., Samford
DL        Jay Person, So., Chattanooga
LB        Isaac Dowling, Fr., Mercer
LB        Nathan East, Gr., Samford
LB        Ty Boeck, Jr., Chattanooga
LB        Stone Snyder, So., VMI
DB       Parrish Gordon, Gr., The Citadel
DB       Yahsyn McKee, So., Mercer
DB       Ethan Caselberry, Jr., VMI
DB       Tahir Annoor, So., Wofford
 
Second team special teams
PK        Tyler Keltner, So., ETSU
P          Timmy Bleekrode, R-So., Furman
P          Caleb Dowden, R-So., Mercer
RS       Quay Holmes, R-Jr., ETSU
 
All-Freshman Offense
Ben Brockington, The Citadel
Nathan Storch, The Citadel
Fred Norman Jr., ETSU
Noah West, ETSU
Jacob Johanning, Furman
Ethan Dirrim, Mercer
Ty James, Mercer
Carter Peevy, Mercer
Cooper Frazier, Samford
Seth Morgan, VMI
Irvin Mulligan, Wofford  
 
All-Freshman Defense
Carson Hatchett, The Citadel
Di'Andre Davis, ETSU
Max Evans, ETSU
Alijah Huzzie, ETSU
Nick Kuzemka, Furman
Isaac Dowling, Mercer
Noah Martin, Samford
John Prince, Chattanooga
Quay Wiggles, Chattanooga
Alex Oliver, VMI
Dorian Davis, Western Carolina
Jaquarius Guinn, Western Carolina
 
All-Freshman Special Teams
Chance Knox, VMI
Jerry Rice, VMI
Paxton Robertson, Western Carolina
 
Notes:
- Welch and Herres (Walter Payton Award), Snyder (Buck Buchanan Award), Morgan (Jerry Rice Award) and Wachenheim (Eddie Robinson Award) are all national finalists for FCS legacy awards.
 
- Welch leads the SoCon in passing and total offense. He is 161-for-236 for 12 touchdowns and five interceptions through the air, averaging 373.7 yards per game, good for fourth in the FCS. His 2,242 passing yards rank third in the FCS. Welch, who has also run for 303 yards and four scores, averages 424.2 yards of total offense per game, second in the FCS.
 
- A Samford quarterback has now won the offensive award in four of the last five seasons, as the Bulldogs’ Devlin Hodges won it three times from 2016-18.
 
- Herres becomes VMI’s first winner of the offensive award since running back Thomas Haskins in 1996. The Keydets were not members of the SoCon from 2003-13. He is the first wide receiver to win the award since Appalachian State’s DaVon Fowlkes in 2004.
 
- Herres also finds himself among the FCS leaders. He is third nationally with 115.3 receiving yards per game and second with 9.6 receptions per game. His 807 total yards and seven touchdown receptions both rank fourth. In consecutive games at Samford and Wofford, Herres totaled 29 catches, 373 yards and five touchdowns, earning Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week honors after the Wofford game.
 
- Folks becomes the first ETSU player to claim either an offensive or defensive honor since linebacker Mario Hankerson in 1997. The Bucs did not field a football team from 2004-14 and competed as an independent in 2015 before rejoining the SoCon for football the following season.
 
- Folks is ninth in the SoCon in tackles per game at 8.3, totaling 50 in six games (23 solo). He had four tackles for loss for 15 yards, including half-sacks against The Citadel and Mercer, and added four quarterback hurries on the season. He has helped ETSU lead the league in scoring defense (18.8) and rushing defense (114.5) and rank second in total defense (287.8) and passing defense (173.3).
 
- Snyder is VMI’s first-ever defensive player to be named player of the year. The player of the year award originated in 1948 and was split into offensive and defensive categories in 1986.
 
- Snyder has recorded 76 tackles (25 solo) and paces the league in tackles with 10.9 per game and sacks per game at 1.14 (8.0 total), with both per-game averages ranking ninth in the FCS. Snyder is third in the league in tackles for loss with 1.36 per game and 9.5 total. He has helped VMI rank second in the SoCon in scoring defense (20.4) and sacks per game (3.43).
 
- Morgan is VMI’s fourth freshman of the year and first since quarterback Al Cobb in 2014. He has appeared in seven games this season, going 92-for-121 for 1,088 yards and eight touchdowns against just one interception. His .760 completion percentage this season leads the FCS, while 171.1 pass efficiency ranks second.
 
- After playing behind All-SoCon quarterback Reece Udinski for the first four games of the season, Morgan started the Keydets’ last three after Udinski was lost to a season-ending injury. Morgan threw for 1,018 yards and seven TDs and rushed for 147 yards and two scores as VMI went 2-1 down the stretch to close the regular season 6-1 and claim its first SoCon title since 1977. Morgan was named the Stats Perform FCS National Freshman of the Week after accounting for 357 yards of total offense and four touchdowns in a win over The Citadel to close the regular season.
 
- Shorts is ETSU’s second-ever Jacobs Blocking Award winner and second in three seasons (Matt Pyke, 2018).
 
- Shorts has helped pave the way for first-team All-SoCon running back Quay Holmes, who rushed for a league-best 106.7 yards per game this season. Shorts also helped the Bucs rank second in the league in fewest sacks against this season at 1.83 per game.
 
- Strange becomes Chattanooga’s third winner of the Jacobs Blocking Award, joining Mike Nease, who won it in 1981, and Corey Levin, who won in 2014 and 2015.
 
- Strange helped Chattanooga rank third in the SoCon in pass offense at 195.8 yards per game. He also helped the Mocs to a 3-2 overall record (3-1 SoCon) and a top-10 national ranking at one point in the season.
 
- Wachenheim is the first VMI coach to earn consecutive coach of the year honors from his peers and the first SoCon coach to do so since Chattanooga’s Russ Huesman earned back-to-back honors in 2013 and 2014. Appalachian State great Jerry Moore did it three times in his career and Georgia Southern’s Paul Johnson did it once.
 
- Wachenheim led VMI to a 6-1 league record and its first SoCon title since 1977. The Keydets will finish this season with a winning record for the first time since 1981 and will make their first-ever FCS playoffs appearance Saturday when they visit top-ranked James Madison.
 
- Wachenheim, who was named the AFCA FCS Region 2 Coach of the Year on Wednesday, has seen his team enter the FCS national rankings for the first time ever this year, peaking at No. 10.
 
- ETSU and Samford each had a total of 13 all-conference and all-freshman selections to lead all SoCon teams. The Bucs, who appeared in the national rankings in each of the final three weeks of the regular season, and Samford, which received votes in the final regular-season polls, had a league-best six first-team selections each. ETSU had two-second team picks and a SoCon-high five all-freshman picks, while the Bulldogs had five second-team selections and two all-freshman picks.
 
- League champion VMI had 12 selections, putting four each on the first, second and all-freshman teams.
 
- All nine league teams had at least one first-team pick.