Cullowhee, N.C. – Fourteen different Catamount football players were recognized on Tuesday afternoon as the postseason All-Southern Conference football teams from both the league's head coaches and the SoCon Sports Media Association (SCSMA) were released by the conference office. Four Catamounts collected first-team all-conference plaudits by both voting groups with sophomore quarterback Cole Gonzales collecting the Roy M. "Legs" Hawley Offensive Player of the Year honor from the voting media.
 
Sophomore running back Desmond Reid, senior offensive linemen Christian Coulter and Tyler Smith, and fifth-year placekicker Richard McCollum each earned first-team plaudits from both the coaches and media. Four including OL Blake Whitmore, TE Ajay Belanger, DL Marlon Alexander, and DB Andreas Keaton all collected second-team honors from the coaches. Gonzales was the first-team offensive quarterback with WR Censere Lee landing on the second-team in the media tabulation.
 
Additionally, four Catamounts earned SoCon All-Freshman Team plaudits from the head coaches including WR Corey Washington and RB Camury Reid on offense, DB Ken Moore Jr. on defense, and first-year punter Stephen Brantley on special teams.
   
Collecting the league's top offensive honor from the voting media, Cole Gonzales guided the nation's top yardage-producing offense as WCU finished the regular season leading the country at 504.1 yards per game. He is the first Catamount to be named the Roy M. "Legs" Hawley Offensive Player of the Year since 1984 honoree Jeff Gilbert. Gonzales finished the year 204-for-310 for 2,803 yards and a school-record – and nation-leading – 28 touchdown passes against just eight interceptions through the air. He additionally ranks third in the FCS in passing efficiency (166.4), 12th in passing yards (2,803), and 14th in passing yards per game (254.8). Gonzales also ran for 203 yards this season.
 
A two-time SoCon Offensive Player of the Week in 2023 (Sept. 25, Nov. 13), Gonzales threw five touchdown passes on three different occasions, while also amassing 250-plus yards in seven of the 11 games including a pair of games over the 350-yard passing mark. On Tuesday, the Ocala, Fla., product was among the 30 finalists for the 2023 Walter Payton Award presented by FedEx Ground and awarded by Stats Perform FCS.
 
Despite only seeing action in eight of the team's 11 games – and twice being limited by injury, sophomore tailback Desmond Reid posted the second-most rushing yards in the SoCon this season with 897 yards, while pacing the league with a 112.1 yard per game average. He was second in the league with a career-best 13 rushing touchdowns that included scoring a career-best five in the first half in the road win at The Citadel in late September. A two-time SoCon Offensive Player of the Week, Reid had a run of five consecutive 100-yard rushing games including a season-high 211 yards on just 15 carries in the road win at No. 20/24 Chattanooga in early October. Reid added 21 catches for 283 yards to finish the season with 1,180 all-purpose yards, pacing the conference with a 147.5 all-purpose yard per-game average.
 
The reigning SoCon Freshman of the Year and a second-team honoree a season ago, Reid collected the first, first-team nod of his two-year career.
 
WCU's trio of offensive linemen – Tyler Smith and Christian Coulter, first-team from both groups and Blake Whitmore, honored by the coaches – each started all 11 games for WCU in 2023 in helping the Catamounts to a school-record 5,545 yards of total offense and an FCS-leading 504.1 yards of offense per game. Smith, who closed his career with 58 career games played and an impressive 54 consecutive starts, anchored the left tackle position with Whitmore starting all 11 games at center. Coulter split his starts between left guard and right tackle during the regular season. Smith earned postseason honors for the second-straight season – his first on the first team – while both Coulter and Whitmore earned the first awards of their respective careers.
 
Richard McCollum led the Southern Conference with 93 points scored in the regular season, the fourth-most by a Catamount in a season. His 93 points were the fourth-most in the NCAA FCS this season and the most by a kicker. The Sanford, N.C., product finished 14-of-15 (93.3%) on field goals including 5-5 from 29 yards or shorter and 4-for-4 from beyond 40 yards. His lone miss came from 35 yards out in the rain during the road victory at Eastern Kentucky. McCollum was also 51-of-52 on PATs, while also adding 22 kickoffs with three touchbacks.
 
McCollum finished his impressive WCU career with 300 career points scored, second all-time in program history, just two points behind Kirk Roach (302, 1984-87). McCollum connected on 45 career field goals (45-of-52, 86.5%) to rank third in program history.
 
Tight end Ajay Belanger caught 17 passes for 190 yards and four scores in 2023. He recorded a season-best 45 receiving yards on four catches in the upset victory over No. 7/8 Samford. He posted TD catches against Charleston Southern, ETSU, and two on just two receptions against Mercer – all coming in Cullowhee. Moonlighting on defense on an end-of-half defensive stand, he recorded the lone interception of his career against the Mercer Bears in late October. The second-team all-conference honor is the first of his WCU career.
 
A senior leader along the defensive front, Marlon Alexander earned his first postseason award for the Catamounts, landing on the second team as selected by the coaches. The graduate student from Smyrna, Tenn., closed his three seasons at WCU with 24 total tackles including 13 solo stops and 1.5 tackles for loss coming on sacks. He also created a turnover on a forced fumble in the home rivalry win over ETSU in mid-November. Helping anchor the defensive front, Alexander led the Catamounts with a season-best five tackles against ETSU to match his career-high for a third time.
 
Junior Andreas Keaton collected postseason honors for the third time in his collegiate career, collecting second-team All-SoCon plaudits from the head coaches. The 2021 SoCon Freshman of the Year and a second-team coaches selection last season, Keaton led the platooning WCU defense with 67 total tackles including half a stop for loss. He ranked 14th overall in the SoCon for total tackles, averaging 6.1 per game. The Powder Springs, Ga., product posted a team-best three double-digit tackle efforts including a career-best 12 against Mercer on Oct. 28.
 
Closing out WCU's second-team honorees was sophomore WR Censere Lee. An all-freshman team selection at receiver in 2022, Lee ranked fifth in the SoCon with a 72.0 yard per game average, posting a WCU-best 46 receptions for 792 yards and eight touchdowns catches which tied him for the most among all SoCon receivers. He posted at least one reception in all 11 games on the season, tallying five or more catches six times. Lee twice recorded two TDs in a game with a pair of scores in the road win at EKU and in the victory at No. 20/24 Chattanooga. The Clearwater, Fla., product caught seven passes for a career-high 127 yards and a score against ETSU in mid-November in Cullowhee.
 
First-year wide receiver Corey Washington and redshirt freshman Camury Reid earned All-Freshman Offense. Washington played in eight games with 16 receptions for 213 yards including a career-high 108 receiving yards on three catches against Charleston Southern. He posted multiple receptions five times, adding eight punt returns with an 8.63-yard average with a trio of kickoff returns totaling 48 yards. Reid split time between offense and special teams, rushing 19 times for 101 yards while adding five receptions for 44 receiving yards.
 
Redshirt freshman defensive back Ken Moore Jr. played in all 11 games as a defensive reserve and on special teams. The Miami, Fla., product finished with 17 total tackles including 11 solo stops. He added a pair of pass breakups and his first career interception in the road win over nationally-ranked Chattanooga.
 
Rounding out WCU's honorees was freshman punter Stephen Brantley who punted 31 times – the fewest in the SoCon this season behind the league's top offensive unit – for an average of 40.3 yards per punt with nine downed inside the opposition's 20-yard line and seven traveling 50+ yards including a career-long 59 yarder against Charleston Southern. Brantley, who held on each of fellow all-conference selection McCollum's PATs and field goal attempts, additionally recorded eight kickoffs late in the season for WCU.
 
Quarterbacks Tyler Huff from Furman and WCU's Gonzales split the two SoCon Offensive Player of the Year honors handed out Tuesday, with defensive lineman Jay Person from Chattanooga and Furman head coach Clay Hendrix tabbed as the league's top defender and coach of the year by both groups. Samford freshman WR Brendan Jenkins was the SoCon Freshman of the Year by both, sharing the honor with Furman's Carson Jones on the media team, with Jacob Johanning of Furman collecting the Jacobs Blocking Award from the head coaches, who were not allowed to vote on their players.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount football and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/CatamountSports) and Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountsFB).
 

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Western Carolina on the 2023 Coaches All-SoCon Team
 
First team offense
RB           Desmond Reid, So., Western Carolina
OL           Christian Coulter, Sr., Western Carolina
OL           Tyler Smith, Sr., Western Carolina
 
First team special teams
PK           Richard McCollum, Sr., Western Carolina
 
Second team offense
OL           Blake Whitmore, Jr., Western Carolina
TE           Ajay Belanger, Sr., Western Carolina
 
Second team defense
DL           Marlon Alexander, Sr., Western Carolina
DB          Andreas Keaton, Jr., Western Carolina
 
All-Freshman Team – Offense
Corey Washington, Western Carolina     
Camury Reid, Western Carolina 
 
All-Freshman – Defense
Ken Moore Jr., Western Carolina
 
All-Freshman – Special Teams
Stephen Brantley, Western Carolina
 
Western Carolina on the 2023 SCSMA All-SoCon Team
 
Roy M. "Legs" Hawley Offensive Player of the Year – Cole Gonzales, So., QB, Western Carolina
 
First team offense
QB          Cole Gonzales, So., Western Carolina
RB           Desmond Reid, So., Western Carolina
OL           Christian Coulter, Sr., Western Carolina
OL           Tyler Smith, Sr., Western Carolina
 
First team special teams
PK           Richard McCollum, Sr., Western Carolina
 
Second team offense
WR         Censere Lee, So., Western Carolina