Two University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football student-athletes were among those honored on the 2019 HeroSports.com Freshman and Sophomore All-American teams today. Running back Ailym Ford was named to the freshman first team, while defensive lineman Devonnsha Maxwell was on the sophomore honorable mention list.
This is the third year in a row the Mocs have had a Freshman All-American. Maxwell made the first team in 2018 and Cole Strange was on Phil Steele’s Freshman All-American squad in 2017.
Ford has taken home a truck load of postseason honors after leading all freshmen in the FCS with 108.1 rushing yards per game. He tied for the team lead with nine rushing scores, while posting 1,081 rushing yards in 10 games. He was just nine yards shy of the UTC freshman mark set by Mike Smith in 1977. It was also the seventh highest total by a freshman in the SoCon record books.
His season was cut short due to an injury early in the Samford game, but he still manage to finish fifth in the voting for the Jerry Rice Award for national freshman of the year. He was also the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and a first team All-SoCon selection.
Maxwell was a first team All-SoCon selection after leading the team with 7.0 sacks in 2019. He was also second in the league with 13.0 TFLs. His 46 tackles were tied for fourth on the team and he also had three quarterback hurries.
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