Furman’s Ryu, Mercer’s Zock Named 2025-26 SoCon Athletes of the Year

Previous SoCon Female Athlete of the Year Winners  |  Previous SoCon Male Athlete of the Year Winners

SPARTANBURG, SC – Furman golfer Audrey Ryu was named 2025-2026 Southern Conference Female Athlete of the Year, and Mercer defensive end Andrew Zock was named 2025-2026 Bob Waters Southern Conference Male Athlete of the Year, the conference office announced on Thursday.

The awards are selected annually by a voting panel comprising the conference's Directors of Athletics and one media member from each conference school. The awards recognize athletic achievement, academic performance, and civic involvement.

The men's award was named after the late Bob Waters in 1991-1992. Waters served as the head football coach at Western Carolina from 1969 through 1988 and led the Catamounts to three top-10 national finishes and a berth in the 1983 Division I-AA National Championship Game.

Ryu (Dublin, Ohio) is a repeat winner after claiming the honor in 2024-25 and is Furman's seventh-straight SoCon Female Athlete of the Year. The Furman women's golf program has claimed seven SoCon Female Athlete of the Year plaudits since the award's inception in 1989-90 – and the Paladins have been honored 14 times overall during that timeframe.

Ryu won medalist honors for the second year in a row at the SoCon Women's Golf Championship, leading Coach Jeff Hull's team to another SoCon team title as well. A junior, she was named 2026 SoCon Women's Golfer of the Year and paced her team with a 72.73 stroke average. During the regular season, Ryu recorded six finishes inside the top 11, including a sixth-place effort at the Valspar Augusta Invitational and a seventh-place finish at the Cougar Classic. She was named SoCon Golfer of the Week three times.

Off the course, Ryu carries a 3.96 GPA as a biology major and is also a concert pianist. Ryu is currently working with Prisma Health in cancer pathology clinical research. She has published computational chemistry research at Furman and works with Prisma Hospital's Institute of Translational Oncology Research. Ryu was named to the WGCA All-America Scholar Team and the CSC Academic All-District Team, as well as the SoCon Academic All-Conference Team and SoCon Academic Honor Roll. She is also on the Dean's List at Furman.

Ryu was voted first or second on 17 of the 20 ballots this year, earning 11 first-place votes. She finished with 83 total points, ahead of Samford'sSam De Luca (51 points), UNC Greensboro's Brooklyn Shroyer (51 points), and ETSU's Makayla Bays (45 points).

Zock (Citra, FL) is the first Mercer student-athlete to win the Bob Waters Male SoCon Athlete of the Year award since Bears' soccer standout Will Bagrou did so consecutively in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

The 6-foot-2, 250-pound defensive end enjoyed a sensational sophomore season, culminating in the 2025 Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player in the FCS. Zock was a consensus FCS All-America selection in 2025, earning his status from six different organizations. 

The 2025 SoCon Defensive Player of the Year was only the second player in SoCon history to earn the Buchanan Award, joining App State legend Dexter Coakley (1995, 1996) on an exclusive list. 

Zock finished the season with 46 total tackles (24 solo) and school single-season marks for sacks (11.5), tackles for loss (20.0), and quarterback pressures (23). He added four pass breakups and two forced fumbles to bolster a Mercer defense that powered the Bears to another SoCon title and berth in the FCS Playoffs.

In addition to his proficiency in tackling and pressuring opposing signal callers, Zock also made his mark in the classroom and community. He forged a 3.41 cumulative GPA in sports marketing and analytics, earning SoCon Academic All-Conference honors and a spot on the conference's Academic Honor Roll. Zock also participated in several initiatives with the school's 'Build The Bear' service program.

Zock received 10 first-place votes to finish with 73 total points, just ahead of Furman's Diego Hernandez (59 points) and Samford's Jadin Booth (52 points).

Voting in 2025-26 saw 100 percent participation, with all 20 ballots submitted for each award.