Lucas Webb became the first University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football player to be voted first-team All-Southern Conference four years as the league awards were announced Tuesday.
Webb was a first-team coaches' choice and a second-team selection by the media after registering 43 tackles, three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown against Samford, and a fumble recovery for a score against Virginia Military Institute. He finished his career with a SoCon-record four pick-sixes and a record-tying five defensive touchdowns, and his 13 interceptions tied a school record.
Nine UTC players were selected to the various all-conference teams, including four all-freshman selections.
Senior offensive lineman Josh Cardiello and junior tight end Bailey Lenoir were chosen to the offensive second team. It was Cardiello's second selection as he started all 11 games at center, while Lenoir totaled 120 yards on 14 catches.
Junior defensive linemen Isaiah Mack and Derek Mahaffey also were second-team choices. Mack had 54 tackles, seven for loss, while Mahaffey had 51 stops and eight quarterback hurries.
Quarterback Cole Copeland, defensive back Jerrell Lawson, kicker Victor Ulmo and return specialist Brandon Dowdell made the all-freshman team. Copeland had 1,177 yards with a 63 percent completion rate and seven touchdowns, starting the final six games. Lawson started the final nine and had 39 tackles, two pass breakups and a quarterback hurry, while
Ulmo made nine of his 12 field-goal attempts, with a long of 44 yards against Mercer, and all but one of his 23 extra-point tries. He hit the game-winning 34-yarder at Samford.
Dowdell took over the return duties about midway through the season, averaging 23 yards on 11 kickoff returns with a pair of 50-yarders against The Citadel and 12.3 yards on 13 punt returns, with a 37-yarder also against the Bulldogs.
Mercer senior Chandler Curtis from Calhoun (Ga.) was the first-team return specialist in both ballotings, and Mercer quarterback Kaelan Riley from Calhoun was the freshman of the year. The 1,088 all-purpose yards for Curtis in 2017 included a league-best 215 punt-return yards (16.5 per return) and 424 kick-return yards, and Riley set a school record with his 59.4-percent pass-completion rate in going 171-for-288 for 2,030 yards and 13 TDs. He ran for four scores.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.