Cullowhee, N.C. – Highlighted by four named to the first-team, Western Carolina football today landed nine student-athletes on the Southern Conference's postseason award teams as selected by the league's nine head coaches.
 
Even with missing the final four games of the regular season, Walter Payton Award finalist Cole Gonzales led a league-best four Catamounts on the first-team All-SoCon Offense. The junior quarterback was joined by senior OL Blake Whitmore, sophomore TE Jake Young, and junior WR AJ Colombo with first-team accolades. WCU also landed two on the second-team with senior OL Derek Simmons collecting honors on offense and senior DB Mateo Sudipo landing on the second-team defense.
 
The Catamounts also had a trio selected for the SoCon All-Freshman teams. Redshirt freshman – and Jerry Rice Award finalist – QB Taron Dickens and OL Zach Watson were selected on the offensive rookie team while redshirt freshman DB Bo Simpson-Nealy garnered All-Freshman Defense plaudits.
 
The league's nine head coaches, who could not vote for their own players, selected the all-conference first and second teams and all-freshman teams on offense, defense, and special teams. Ties in this year's voting led to one additional wide receiver on the first team and one additional offensive lineman and defensive back on the second team.
 
Even with missing the final four games of the regular season due to injury, Cole Gonzales earned the SoCon's top quarterback nod that comes with the first-team offense selection. The product of Ocala, Fla., completed a career-best 205 passes – eighth in WCU's single-season history – for 2,543 yards that likewise ranked him eighth in the seasonal record books and second in the SoCon despite having three fewer games played than the conference leader. Gonzales tossed 12 touchdown passes in eight games, tied with four others including teammate Taron Dickens for 20th in WCU's single-season history.
 
Before his injury, Gonzales led the NCAA FCS with an average of 317.9 passing yards per game as part of 2,755 yards of total offense for an average of 344.38 per outing, a mark that would lead the NCAA FCS.
 
Gonzales continued his onslaught on the Catamount career record books through the eight starts in 2024, finishing the season ranked third in program history in completions (511), passing yards (6,682 yards), and total offense (7,244 yards). He has also tossed the second-most touchdown passes in WCU history with 51 – just 13 shy of all-time leader Tyrie Adams (64, 2016-19). Gonzales has thrown for 300 or more yards six times including a program and SoCon single-game record 620 yards in the win at Furman in late October this year.
 
Sixth-year redshirt senior offensive lineman Blake Whitmore finished his WCU career having started 34-straight games over the past three seasons in Cullowhee. Including the COVID-altered season of 2020-21, the Raleigh native played 45 career games after joining the squad in the fall of 2019 as a preferred walk-on lineman. Whitmore helped pave the way for four consecutive 5,000-yard offensive seasons that repeatedly set and broke the WCU program seasonal record. Whitmore is a three-time SoCon Academic Honor Roll recipient and a two-time All-SoCon selection over the past two seasons. He was additionally selected to the 2024 National Football Foundation (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society for his work both on the field and in the classroom.
 
Emerging as an offensive weapon in 2024, tight end Jake Young finished sixth on the Catamount offense with 28 receptions for 321 yards and two touchdowns. The WCU football legacy started in all 12 games, posting at least one reception in each. Young caught the first touchdown of the 2024 season for the Catamounts on an eight-yard strike from Gonzales in the season-opener at nationally-ranked North Carolina State. He added a second TD at FCS-ranked ETSU. In WCU's home finale, the Waxhaw, N.C., native hauled in a career-high six passes for 74 yards in the VMI victory.
 
AJ Colombo finished his third season in the Purple & Gold by leading the Southern Conference with a team and career-best 61 receptions. He was eighth in the league with a WCU-best 590 receiving yards and tied for fifth with five receiving touchdowns, tied with freshman WR Isaiah Johnson for second on the Catamount squad. A second Waxhaw, N.C. product for the Catamounts, Colombo also led the SoCon with a combined 22 punt returns in amassing 174 return yards, second most in the conference. He finished fifth with a 7.9-yard per-return average in 2024.
 
One of two second-team All-SoCon selections, senior OL Derek Simmons started all 16 games in which he saw action over the past two seasons including 10 of WCU's 12 games in 2024. Much like Whitmore, Simmons was a staple on the offensive line and helped the Catamount offense to back-to-back 5,000-yard seasons as part of the four-straight turned in by Western Carolina. Originally from Jacksonville, Fla., Simmons transferred to WCU ahead of the 2022 season from Abilene Christian, sitting that year due to transfer rules.
 
A transfer from Coastal Carolina who returned from injury after missing the 2023 season, Mateo Sudipo finished fourth on the Catamount squad with his WCU career-high of 54 total tackles including 28 solo stops. Sudipo trailed linebackers Hayward McQueen Jr. (61 tackles, 7.5 TFLs) and Antarron Turner (61 tackles, 6.5 TFLs), as well as junior Samaurie Dukes (55 tackles, 2 INTs) in the team tackle department – each of whom was left off the postseason team – but his return was instrumental in the Catamount secondary. Also absent was WCU DB Jordy Lowery who was tied for second in the SoCon with six interceptions, ranking tied for second nationally with 0.5 INTs per game.
 
Credited with starting nine of WCU's 12 games on the year, Sudipo recorded at least two tackles in all 12 games including a career-high 10 stops against Campbell. The Pompano Beach, Fla., product tallied three interceptions to accompany five pass break-ups, while also forcing and recovering a fumble.
 
Stepping into the QB1 spot at the end of the Mercer game and starting the final four games, Jerry Rice Award finalist and SoCon All-Freshman team selection Taron Dickens came into his own over the final quarter of the 2024 season. Having seen action in just two games as a true freshman in 2023 and minimal action over three games to begin 2024 as the backup, Dickens was thrust into the starting role after what proved to be a season-ending injury to Cole Gonzales. All he did was finish the season 127-of-172 for 1,428 passing yards while tying Gonzales with a dozen TD tosses.
 
Dickens made the most of his first collegiate start against the nationally-ranked Chattanooga Mocs on Nov. 2, completing 34-of-48 passes for a career-high 431 yards and five touchdowns. He garnered Stats Perform FCS National Freshman of the Week honors, as well as SoCon Offensive Player of the Week accolades. On the year, Dickens threw for 200-plus yards in each of his four starts including 400 or more twice.
 
Zach Watson saw action in 11 of the team's 12 games on the season with three starts coming to help fill voids injuries left along WCU's offensive front. The redshirt freshman from Waycross, Ga., has appeared in 14 games with four starts over the past two seasons as part of a Catamount offense that has eclipsed the 5,000-yard mark in both years.
 
Sidelined late in the 2024 season, redshirt freshman DB Bo Simpson-Nealy landed a spot on the SoCon's Defensive All-Freshman team. In 10 games played, the Altamonte Springs, Fla., product started seven times in the secondary after playing in four games as a true freshman in 2023 in keeping his redshirt eligibility. Simpson-Nealy was credited with 37 total tackles this season with 22 solo stops and four for loss including a sack. He also recovered a fumble in the road win at nationally-ranked Elon and an interception against ETSU back on Nov. 9. Simpson-Nealy was a SoCon Academic Honor Roll recipient in the 2023 season.
 
All nine teams from the SoCon were represented on the postseason all-conference team. League champion Mercer led the way with 13 all-conference selections including six on the first team and seven on the second. Tied for third place in the SoCon, Chattanooga was second with 10 selections, likewise with six on the trio of the first teams. SoCon runner-up WCU and ETSU – which matched its instate rival UTC for third in the final standings – were tied with six honorees, followed by Furman and Wofford with five, VMI with four, and both Samford and The Citadel with three apiece.
 
Mercer landed four of the top five superlative awards on Tuesday including RB Dwayne McGee as the top offensive player, DL Brayden Manley as the top defensive player, and DL Andrew Zock dubbed the league's top freshman. Head coach Mike Jacobs garnered the Wallace Wade Coach of the Year honor. ETSU graduate OL Luke Smith took home the Jacobs Blocking Award given to the conference's top offensive lineman. Furman led the SoCon with eight SoCon All-Freshman selections including four on defense.
 
Western Carolina (7-5, 6-2 SoCon) finished the 2024 season with a third-straight winning record for the first time since while securing a school-record six SoCon wins coming in the team's final eight games of the season. WCU's runner-up finish in the 2024 conference race marks the best for the program since sharing second with Samford back in 2014 – and claiming sole possession of the runner-up spot for the first time since 1986.
 
The Catamounts turn their attention to the holiday this week before finishing the semester strong in the classroom. Off-season workouts are to follow with the team holding its annual spring drills in March-April of 2025. WCU's complete 2025 schedule as well as season-ticket information is coming ahead of the second of the two national signing day periods for college football in February.
 
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