Although the season outcome wasn't what University of Memphis football personnel would have preferred, five Tigers were named to the All-Conference USA Team by the league's coaches, the C-USA office announced Tuesday.
Senior linebacker Jamon Hughes was the lone U of M representative for the C-USA First Team, while senior offensive lineman Dominik Riley was placed on the second squad. Meanwhile, punter Tom Hornsey, offensive lineman Ricky Hart and defensive back Mohammed Seisay were all named to the C-USA Freshman Team.
Hughes served as the defensive leader for this season's Tigers, ranking third nationally and tops in C-USA with 147 tackles. This season he posted eight games of 10 or more tackles and had four games with 15 or more stops. He ended the season ranked in a tie for fourth on The U of M's season-single tackle list.
Riley, a preseason All-C-USA selection, started 10 games at right guard for The U of M, and worked 423 offensive plays — more than 80 percent of all offensive plays — this season. For his efforts in the community and classroom, Riley was a finalist for the Wuerffel Trophy and the ARA Sportsmanship Award, and was named to the C-USA All-Academic Team last week.
Hornsey, a former Australian-rules football player, ranks second nationally in yards punted with 3,416 and third in total punts with 80. The true freshman also ranks third in C-USA with an average of 42.7 yards per punt. He had 17 punts of more than 50 yards, dropped 24 punts inside the 20-yard-line and had just 30 percent of his punts returned.
Hornsey also holds The U of M school record in single-season yards punted and is tied for the top spot in single-season punts.
Hart played in eight games, including three in which he started at guard on the offensive line. He participated in 160 total offensive plays this past season, filling in at both left and right guard positions.
Seisay started all 12 games at cornerback for the Tigers and was one of just three defensive players to start every game, including the only one in the secondary. He tallied 39 tackles, including 23 solo stops. He also had two interceptions, which came in back-to-back contests against Middle Tennessee and Texas El-Paso.
Six additional U of M players received honorable mention All-C-USA honors including: receiver Marcus Rucker, defensive linemen Dontari Poe and Frank Troter, kicker Paulo Henriques, punter Tom Hornsey and long-snapper Keenan Bratcher.
