Evan Engram, Chad Kelly, Gary Wunderlich land on AP All-SEC team
Published 12:40 pm Thursday, December 8, 2016
The postseason accolades continued for Evan Engram, Chad Kelly and Gary Wunderlich on Thursday.
Two days after being voted to the coaches All-Southeastern Conference football team, the three Ole Miss players were named to The Associated Press’ All-SEC team. Engram was a unanimous selection as the first-team tight end while Kelly and Wunderlich were named to the second team.
Engram, who’s also won the Conerly Trophy as Mississippi’s best college football player and the Ozzie Newsome Award as the nation’s best collegiate tight end, led Ole Miss in receptions (65), receiving yards (926) and touchdown catches (8) in 11 games this season and is tops among tight ends nationally with 5.9 catches per game and 84.2 receiving yards a game.
Kelly averaged 343.3 total yards and 306.4 passing yards in nine games before a torn ACL and meniscus against Georgia Southern on Nov. 5 ended his collegiate career. The senior quarterback threw for 19 touchdowns and ran for five more scores this season, ending his career with a touchdown pass in a school-record 22 straight games.
Wunderlich, the Rebels’ junior kicker, leads the nation with a 95.7 success rate on field goals (22 of 23). His 8.9 points per game rank 27th nationally. He also averaged 43.7 yards per punt.
Alabama swept the individual awards. Freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts was voted the SEC Offensive Player of the Year as well as Newcomer of the Year. Defensive lineman Jonathan Allen won Defensive Player of the Year while Nick Saban was pegged as Coach of the Year.