Vandals place 10 on All-Sun Belt football team

| December 7, 2017 12:00 AM

NEW ORLEANS— Idaho football picked up 10 Sun Belt all-conference awards Wednesday, including three first-team selections, three second-team honors and four honorable mention nods. It is the first time three Vandals were named first-team all-league in the same season since 2008 (Western Athletic Conference).

Senior running back Aaron Duckworth, senior defensive end Aikeem Coleman and junior linebacker Tony Lashley were named to the All-Sun Belt First Team. It is the first first-team honor for each. Coleman (second team) and Lashley (honorable mention) were all-conference picks in 2016, while this is the first award of any kind for Duckworth.

Junior linebacker Kaden Elliss, sophomore offensive linemen Noah Johnson and freshman punter Cade Coffey earned second-team distinction. Elliss was an honorable mention selection in 2016, and Johnson was picked to the all-newcomer team last season. The conference did not name an all-newcomer team this season after switching from two all-conference teams to three.

Idaho’s honorable mention honorees were senior defensive tackle Arie Anderson, junior linebacker Ed Hall, senior linebacker Leonard Hazewood and senior wide receiver Alfonso Onunwor.

Duckworth led the Sun Belt with 1,025 rushing yards, the only student-athlete in the conference to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing. He is the first Vandal to lead a league in rushing yards since Joel Thomas in 1996 (Big West).

Coleman recorded a team-high seven sacks and ranked second on the squad with 14 tackles for loss. Both marks ranked in the top five of the conference. Coleman, a transfer from East Mississippi Community College, was the 2016 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year. He earned second-team honors a season ago after leading the Vandals with eight sacks.

Lashley racked up 123 tackles on the season, the most by a Vandal since 2007, ranking second in the Sun Belt. His 6.5 solo stops per game are the top mark in the league and No. 5 nationally. He had 14 tackles for loss, fourth most in the Sun Belt.

Elliss garnered second-team honors at linebacker after leading the Vandals and ranking third in the Sun Belt with 16 tackles for loss. His 15 solo tackles for loss led the league. Elliss’ six sacks were second on the team and fifth in the conference. The versatile athlete hauled in seven receptions on offense for 156 yards and two touchdowns and also played special teams where he blocked a kick.