Connors, Meyer, Hastings, Larison earn FCS All-American honors
Record-setting performances bring national recognition for an 11-3 campaign
UC Davis' highly successful football season ended last Saturday with a 35-21 loss at South Dakota, and now national awards are rolling in for a number of Aggies who contributed mightily to UCD's 11-3 campaign.
The 11 wins under first-year head coach Tim Plough were the most in the Aggies' Division I era.
Lan Larison, David Meyer and Rex Connors all earned first-team honors from Stats Perform, a prominent site that closely follows FCS football, while Miles Hastings was named to the second team.
The three first-team Aggies gives UC Davis the most first-team selections in the Big Sky Conference, where the Aggies finished 7-1 and in second place behind Montana State, 8-0.
Larison and Hastings were both finalists for the Walter Payton Award that goes to the top offensive player in the FCS, while Meyer was a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award given to the top defensive player in the FCS.
Larison finished his final season wearing the Blue and Gold as the national leader with 2,387 all-purpose yards, with 1,465 of those coming on the ground and another 847 as a pass receiver. Larison had 23 touchdowns, 17 on the ground and six through the air, where he had 62 receptions in all.
Connors, a defensive back, had an impressive 115 total tackles, setting a program record with 74 solo tackles in the season. Connors added six pass break-ups, had two interceptions and had a team-high 16 total tackles in the Aggies' quarterfinal playoff game at South Dakota.
The team leader in tackles with 122, Meyer made the trip up from Cal Poly as a graduate transfer and his impact was felt immediately among the Aggie linebacking corps.
Meyer finished 11th in the nation in solo tackles per game (6.7) and was named the national defensive player of the week for his standout performance against Northern Colorado.
UC Davis has become known as Quarterback U through the decades, and Hastings' numbers rank him among the best to ever wear an Aggie uniform.
Hastings is the first Aggie quarterback in program history to throw for over 4,000 yards in a single season. He finished with 4,493 passing yards and 38 passing touchdowns, tops in the nation in both categories.
He finished with a completion percentage of 70.4, the second-best single-season number in program history.
Hastings twice threw for over 400 yards in a game and twice had four touchdown passes in a game.
Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com
As you may know, The Wary One is a reader-supported publication that relies strictly on paid subscriptions for its existence.
So here's a great idea for a low-cost stocking stuffer for a family member or friend.
Just click the button below to give them a gift subscription they can enjoy throughout the New Year.
Or, if you happen to be a free subscriber, you can give yourself a gift subscription that you can enjoy throughout the new year.