With the regular season wrapped up for United Athletic Conference (UAC) Football's third year of competition, the league office announced on Tuesday its postseason award honorees and all-conference selections as voted on by the UAC head football coaches. The all-conference squads highlighted the strength and depth of the league as all nine members had selections and 11 players garnered repeat recognitions. The 2025 award winners included Southern Utah's Joshua Dye (Offensive Player of the Year) and Lando Brown (Defensive Player of the Year), Austin Peay's Carson Smith and North Alabama's Adam Watford (Specialist of the Year), APSU's Montreze Smith Jr. (Freshman of the Year) and West Georgia's Joel Taylor (Coach of the Year).

Joshua Dye, the second consecutive T-Bird running back named Offensive Player of the Year, consistently put up dominant numbers on the ground and rushed for a Division I (FCS & FBS) regular season leading 1,831 yards and 28 touchdowns. Averaging over 6 yards per carry, Dye finished as the FCS statistical champion in rushing yards per game (152.6 ypg), rushing touchdowns, total points scored (168), points per game (14.0 ppg), total rushing attempts (295), and finished top 15 in yards per carry. Dye claimed UAC Offensive Player of the Week honors four times this season. The redshirt-sophomore produced 10 games this season with 100-plus yards rushing including a pair of 200-plus yard contests capped by a season-best 221 yard effort against EKU. Dye finished fouth in the voting for the Walter Payton Award, presented to the FCS Offensive Player of the Year.

Southern Utah’s defensive front was anchored all season by edge rusher Lando Brown, earning the redshirt senior the Defensive Player of the Year award. In just 11 games, Brown racked up 55 total tackles with a league leading 14 sacks and 18 tackles-for-loss, which ranked second in the UAC.The FCS regular season leader in Sacks per game at 1.27, Brown led SUU with 11 QB hurries and recorded a TFL in nine of 11 games this season highlighted by three games with 3.0 behind the line stops. Brown was named to the Walter Camp FCS Player of the Year watchlist and finished fifth in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award, presented to the FCS Defensive Player of the Year.

Carson Smith matched the Austin Peay single-season record with 14-made field goals en route to claiming a share of the Specialist of the Year honor. His 95 points scored in 2025 are the fourth-best single-season total in Govs history and the second-best single-season total by a kicker in program history. A redshirt-senior, Smith also equaled the APSU single-season PAT percentage mark, going a perfect 53-for-53. One of the league's most productive kickers, Smith averaged 7.9 points per game for the Governors and connected on 7-of-10 field goal attempts from 40-plus yards including a season-best 50-yarder against Samford. He was named the UAC Specialist of the Week in back-to-back weeks and selected to an all-conference team for a second straight season.

North Alabama punter Adam Watford joins Smith as the league's Specialist of the Year. Watford averaged 46.5 yards per punt over 66 kicks this season, ranking fourth in the FCS. The junior's strong leg was regularly on display producing a school record 21 punts over 50 yards this season, breaking the program's career mark for 50-plus yard punts with 36, and posting at least one 50-yard or longer kick in 10 of 12 games. A consistent weapon for the Lions, Watford was the lone FCS punter to tally three punts over 70 yards showcased by a UAC record 74-yard blast versus UCA along with a pair of 72-yard bombs against Tarleton State and Utah Tech. He also led the league with 18 punts downed inside the 20 yard line.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Montreze Smith Jr., a Stats Perform Jerry Rice Award Watch List selection, garnered the UAC Freshman of the Year accolade after leading Austin Peay in tackles, solo tackles, interceptions, and defensive touchdowns, while ranking second on the team in tackles for loss, sacks, and forced fumbles. Smith Jr. topped all league rookies with 74 tackles as well as tackles per game (6.2), solo stops (40), TFLs (6.0) and interceptions (2). The Carollton, Ga., native boasted three double-digit tackling performances, highlighted by a personal best 10 tackles against UNA, and was twice named the UAC Freshman of the Week.

In just his second season at the helm of the West Georgia program, Joel Taylor doubled the team's total win total from year one to year two in being voted the UAC Coach of the Year. Taylor not only doubled UWG's win total, leading the Wolves to an 8-3 record, but the Wolves won six more Division I games in 2025 and won their first-ever game over a ranked opponent with a victory over Nicholls State in week two of the season. The second season success of UWG under Taylor was especially noteworthy in the sense that no reclassifying team has ever won eight games against scholarship, Division I opponents since 2000. Under his direction in 2025, UWG spent five consecutive weeks ranked in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll, and four consecutive weeks in the AFCA Coaches Poll, reaching as high as 16th in both polls. In the UAC, UWG finished 5-3 in after going 1-7 in league play in their debut campaign. Taylor was named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) FCS Region Three Coach of the Year along with being named to the Eddie Robinson Award Watch List.

The All-Conference squads were represented by all nine member schools with co-champion Tarleton State boasting the most selections with 12 including four first-team honors. Austin Peay paced all programs with seven first-team honorees and ranked tied with co-champion Abilene Christian and Southern Utah for second in overall accolades finishing with seven each. West Georgia collected six awards followed by EKU (5), Central Arkansas (3), North Alabama (3) and Utah Tech (2).

 

First Team	Second Team
QB - Chris Parson (Austin Peay)*	QB - Victor Gabalis (Tarleton State)*
RB - Joshua Dye (Southern Utah)*	RB - Tre Page III (Tarleton State)
RB - Landen Chambers (Central Arkansas)	RB - Latrelle Murrell (West Georgia)
WR - Malachi Henry (Central Arkansas)	WR - Shane Carr (Southern Utah)
WR - Peyton Kramer (Tarleton State)	WR - Cody Jackson (Tarleton State)
TE - Jackson Head (Austin Peay)	TE - Eric Olsen (Utah Tech)
OL - Joshua Sales Jr. (Austin Peay)*	OL - Kandiyeli Sirri (Southern Utah)
OL - Luke Roaten (Abilene Christian)	OL - Aidan Moe (Tarleton State)
OL - Nick Hilliard (Austin Peay)	OL - Braden Smith (Tarleton State)
OL - Hunter Smith (Tarleton State)	OL - Brody Balliew (West Georgia)
C - Edward Riley (Southern Utah)	C - Colter Lynch (Abilene Christian)

 

First Team	Second Team
DL - Lando Brown (Southern Utah)*	DL - Kaghen Roach (Abilene Christian)
DL - Chris Wright (Abilene Christian)	DL - Jeremiah Bailey (EKU)
DL - Angelo Anderson (Tarleton State)	DL - Brad Gurley (EKU)
DL - David Hoage (West Georgia)	DL - Brandon Tolvert (Tarleton State)
LB - Will Shaffer (Abilene Christian)	LB - Demarcious Robinson (North Alabama)
LB - Rashon Myles Jr. (Abilene Christian)	LB - Sebastian Adamski (Southern Utah)
LB - Montreze Smith Jr. (Austin Peay)	LB - Yasir Holmes (Tarleton State)
DB - Kasyus Kurns (Tarleton State)*	DB - Dillon Williams (Central Arkansas)
DB - Dorian Plumley (Abilene Christian)	DB - Vito Tisdale (EKU)
DB - Ellis Ellis Jr. (Austin Peay)	DB - Omar Emmons (Tarleton State)
DB - Jaheim Ward (EKU)	DB - Jalen Burton (West Georgia)

First Team	Second Team
K - Carson Smith (Austin Peay)*	K - Tommy Holden (West Georgia)
P - Adam Watford (North Alabama)	P - Ryan Marks (Utah Tech)
RS - Deandre Buchanon (West Georgia)*	RS - TJ Mitchell III (EKU)*
LS - Nathan Curry (North Alabama)	LS - Gavin Lipkin (Southern Utah)