Cincinnati Football: Bearcats Clean Up Big East Postseason Awards

After winning a share of the Big East title on Saturday, the Cincinnati Bearcats had another nice day at the office on Thursday, cleaning up in the postseason awards.

Head coach Butch Jones was named Big East coach of the year after taking a team that finished 4-8 in his first year in 2010 and improving to 9-3 and co-Big East champs in 2011.

Senior running back Isaiah Pead was named Big East Offensive Player of the Year, and senior defensive tackle Derek Wolfe was named co-Big East Defensive Player of the Year.

It was quite a day for a program that was picked to finish fifth in the eight-team Big East before the season started.

Pead was brilliant all season with his big plays and long runs that single-handedly won games for Cincinnati.

He finished the regular season with 1,110 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground. He also had 304 receiving yards and three more touchdowns.

His 5.3 yards per carry were a career low, but with Zach Collaros out, teams were gearing up to stop Pead during the final three weeks of the season.

As a game-changing back, Pead was the most explosive player in the conference. 

Wolfe was not only the best defensive player in the conference, but one of the best in the nation.

He had his biggest game in the season finale on senior day against Connecticut.

Wolfe led the league in sacks at 9.5 and tackles for loss at 19.5. Those are some serious numbers for a defensive tackle—good enough to rank him 12th nationally in sacks and sixth in tackles for loss. 

He currently ranks fourth all-time in sacks at Cincinnati.

The awards didn't stop there for the Bearcats.

Senior linebacker J.K. Schaffer, junior safety Drew Frey, senior guard Randy Martinez and junior punter Pat O'Donnell were also named first-team all-Big East selections along with Wolfe and Pead.

Senior quarterback Zach Collaros and senior offensive tackle Alex Hoffman were named second-team all-Big East performers.

With six of the eight all-Big East selections being seniors, Cincinnati will have much talent to replace next season. These seniors will get their final send-off on New Year's Eve against Vanderbilt at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.

This group, and these seniors in particular, will want nothing more than to go out with a win.