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There was a ton of talent on the Cincinnati Bearcats this past fall and the voters were clearly paying attention. The Big East awards were administered only moments ago and, in essence, UC players obliterated the rest of the conference:
– Offensive Player of the Year: Isaiah Pead
– Defensive Player of the Year: Derek Wolfe (although shared with LB Khaseem Greene of Rutgers)
– Coach of the Year: Butch Jones
I couldn’t be happier for those three especially Coach Jones who took a lot of flak in his first season at Cincinnati but proved all the critics wrong that he, in fact, still knows how to coach despite changing jobs. It’s is the 4th time in 5 years that a UC head coach has won the award. Pead and Wolfe both join Mardy Gilyard (ST Player of the Year in ’08 and ’09) as the only Bearcats to win Big East POTY awards.
The 1st and 2nd Big East Teams were also announced today and Cincinnati was well represented on both.
1st Team All-Big East
– OG: Randy Martinez
– RB: Isaiah Pead
– DT: Derek Wolfe
– LB: J.K. Schaffer
– S: Drew Frey
– P: Pat O’Donnell
2nd Team All-Big East
– OT: Alex Hoffman
– QB: Zach Collaros
Looking of the list of Bearcats, I really can’t be much happier especially for Randy Martinez who has ground away on the offensive line for two years now but doesn’t get much time in the spotlight. The rest of the Big East finally realized what kind of an asset he truly is down there. Also appearing on the All-Big East 1st team was Drew Frey who typically takes a lot of criticism from me but I’m pleased to see him appear on the list. Frey did play extremely well in the 2nd half of the season. The rest of the list are the usual suspects of Bearcats players.