Eight Eastern Michigan football players have been chosen to be on three different All-MAC teams for their performances in the 2016 regular season.
This marks the most EMU football players listed on a team since the 1996 season. The teams are organized to list the top 3 lineups of players in the Mid-American Conference.
Only one football player made the first-team All-MAC and that was redshirt senior Pat O’Conner, a defensive lineman for the Eagles. O’Conner is a captain on the team and became the all-time Eastern Michigan sack leader this season as he has 19.5 over the course of his career with eight coming this season.
Three Eagles landed on the second team All-MAC and they are redshirt junior punter Austin Barnes, redshirt freshman kicker Paul Fricano and redshirt senior offensive lineman Cole Gardner. Barnes is a semifinalist for the Ray Guy award that is given to the best punter in the country as he has averaged 43.73 yards-per-punt including punting inside the 20-yard line 27 times. Fricano is 40-for-41 on extra points and 17-for-22 for field goals as he leads the team in points with 91. Gardner is a captain, starting left tackle and leader of an offensive line that has given up the twelfth fewest sacks in college football.
The third-team All-MAC featured four Eagles that include junior wide receiver Sergio Bailey II, redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Jeremiah Harris, senior defensive back Daquan Pace and redshirt senior offensive lineman Andrew Wylie. Bailey is a junior college transfer who joined the team this year as he caught 55 passes for 799 yards and six touchdowns. Harris had a comeback season after being injured in 2015 as he has three forced fumbles, an interception and two blocked field-goals on the season. Pace became the Eagles all-time leader in passed defensed in 2016 with 24 in his career while also catching three interceptions on the season. Wylie battled on the opposite side of the offensive line of Gardner and has started 44 games for the Eagles, fourth all-time.
