UNI football lands 14 on All-MVFC list

CEDAR FALLS — At no point of this college football season — even when things appeared darkest — did Northern Iowa Coach Mark Farley waver in his belief that he had a very good football team.

In fact, even throughout a three-game losing streak, that belief drove frustration for the 15th-year head coach because he knew what he had and they weren't living up to what he or his staff expected.

But after a six-game winning streak and advancing to the second round of the FCS Playoffs, UNI was recognized by the Missouri Valley Football Conference for just how good the Panthers are by way of All-Conference honors.

On Sunday, UNI defensive back Deiondre Hall — who's seen time at cornerback and safety — was named the MVFC Defensive Player of the Year, and UNI quarterback Aaron Bailey was named Newcomer of the Year.

'It's a great honor to have the Defensive Player of the Year again on our football team. As great as this league is, and as good as the defenses are in this league, to be the Defensive Player of the Year says something,' Farley said at his weekly press luncheon on Monday. 'But I also wanted to make sure the team knew, when you have a Defensive Player of the Year, or a Newcomer of the Year or an offensive guy, that particular segment should take pride in that because it takes more than one guy to be the Defensive Player of the Year. A lot of things have to happen within your defense. That's a credit to our defense, but then Deiondre got the award, which he very well deserved.'

Farley echoed those sentiments when specifically talking about Bailey's honor, and the improvements he and the offense had to make from the start of the year until now to make it happen.

'To have Aaron Bailey get Newcomer of the Year is the same result of the offense and what the offensive line has done in the last six, seven weeks, as well as what our receivers have done down field blocking,' Farley said. 'When you have individual honors for the year, it says something else about the segment they play with.'

On Monday UNI landed 14 players on the MVFC All-Conference squad.

Senior Jacob Rathmacher was named first team on offense, with Hall, Karter Schult, Brett McMakin and senior Tim Kilfoy named first team on defense. Bailey and center Robert Rathje were named to the second team on offense, while Isaac Ales, Makinton Dorleant (who was also honorable mention as a return specialist) and Sam Kuhter all received second team on defense.

Tyvis Smith, Braden Lehman, Michael Schmadeke and Trent Simpson received honorable mention.

Bailey, Smith, Rathmacher and Rathje were all part of an offense that sits seventh in the MVFC in total offense, but more importantly, third in rushing offense. Their 2,745 total rushing yards as a team rank fifth all time in UNI history.

Defensively, Hall, Schult, McMakin, Kilfoy, Ales and Dorleant are part of a defense ranked third in the MVFC in total defense and powered the Panthers to the best turnover margin in the conference at plus-12. McMakin leads the team with 101 tackles and six forced fumbles (tying a school record), Hall leads with six interceptions and Ales has 14.5 tackles for loss — 2.5 away from setting a school record.

Individual awards, as Farley pointed out, are an embodiment of what the collective has done. And in the last month-plus, what they've done has been special.

'I thought we had a good football team, and it's really taken life here as of late,' Farley said. 'The last six, seven weeks have been very good to us and we're playing good football right now.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com