Silver Named CAA Defensive Player of the Year; UNH Receives 11 CAA Awards

RICHMOND, Va. – Senior defensive end and captain Josiah Silver (Hampton, Va.) of the 19^th-ranked University of New Hampshire football team was named the CAA Football Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday to highlight a total 11 postseason awards for the Wildcats.

Silver was joined as a First Team All-CAA selection by fellow senior defensive end Flex Ruiz (Orlando, Fla.), grad student safety Wande Owens (Cooksville, Md.) and junior placekicker Nick Mazzie (Boxford, Mass.).

The three Wildcats named Second Team All-CAA were grad student linebacker and captain Ryan Toscano (Bedford, N.H.), grad student wide receiver and captain Logan Tomlinson (Manchester, Conn.), and senior quarterback Seth Morgan (Pittsburgh, Pa.).

Three more 'Cats made Third Team All-CAA – senior offensive lineman and captain Dylan Poirier (North Kingstown, R.I.), senior punter Sean Lehane (Milford, Mass.), and junior cornerback Gavin Urda (Milford, N.H.) as a special teams selection.

Senior cornerback Noah Stansbury (Orange, N.J.) was named to the Honorable Mention list.

UNH had the second highest combined total of first, second and third team honorees. UNH's four First Team selections tied for second most.

New Hampshire (8-4, 6-2 CAA) is the No. 16 seed of the FCS Championship tournament and will play host to 23^rd-ranked UT Martin (8-4, 6-2 Big South-OVC) at Wildcat Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 30 (1 p.m.).

Tickets are available online at tinyurl.com/FBtixNCAA1stRnd. Parking can also be purchased online at tinyurl.com/FBparkNCAA1stRnd.

Silver ended the regular season ranked No. 3 in the nation in sacks per game (0.96) and 11^th in tackles for loss (1.50); both those numbers rank second in the CAA. He is UNH's leader in both sacks (11.5) and tackles for loss (17.5), as well as quarterback hurries (four), and he is third in total tackles (58). Silver has also been credited with one forced fumble.

Silver's season highlights included five tackles for loss, including four sacks, Oct. 12 at Elon. Both those numbers matched his personal bests as he finished with seven total tackles and was named CAA Football Defensive Player of the Week. Silver recorded two sacks in back-to-back road games against Villanova and UAlbany.

He recorded a sack in 6 of 12 games and had a tackle for loss in 8 of 12. The 11.5 sacks ranks third best by a Wildcat in a single season.

Silver was also named a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award as the FCS national defensive player of the year on Tuesday.

Silver is the fifth UNH Wildcat named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year. The previous honorees are Steve Doig (1981), Tim Teevens (1984), Neal Zonfrelli (1985) and Paul Boulay (1987).

Ruiz, the bookend defensive end opposite Silver, ranked second on the team in both tackles for loss (14.0) and sacks (8.0). He ranks No. 25 in the nation in tackles for loss per game (1.2) and 27^th in sacks per game (0.67); both those number are No. 4 in the CAA.

Ruiz made a season-high five tackles against nationally-ranked Stony Brook and finished with four tackles five times. He made three tackles for loss each of the last two games vs. Stony Brook and at Maine and matched his career high of three sacks against SBU. Ruiz had a tackle for loss in 8 of 12 games and at least a half-sack in 7 of 12.

Owens is UNH's leading tackler in his first year as a Wildcat with 101 total tackles, and only four teammates have more total tackles than he has solo tackles (52). He received the New England Football Writers Association Gold Helmet award in recognition of a 10-tackle effort that also included his first career touchdown with a pick-6 in UNH's win at UAlbany.

Owens has recorded 10+ tackles in a game five times and has been UNH's leading tackler in 6 of 12 games. In his UNH debut at UCF, Owens made a career-high 14 tackles and he followed that with 10 tackles the next week at Holy Cross. Owens finished with 10 tackles three other games: back-to-back at Elon and vs. Rhode Island, as well as at UAlbany. His other stats include both a force fumble and a fumble recovery.

Mazzie is a two-time CAA Special Teams Player of the Week recipient who has made 17 of 22 field goal attempts and all 31PAT attempts to lead UNH in scoring with 82 points. Mazzie made a career-high four field goals (42 yards, 35, 35, 31) in the Wildcats' 33-20 win against Monmouth. He kicked a career-long 52-yard field goal Oct. 4 at Harvard and made a total of three field goals that game.

Mazzie's 52-yarder is the second longest in program history as he became the first UNH kicker to make a field goal of 50+ yards since 2009.

Toscano ranks second on the team with 100 total tackles and he is the leader with 65 assisted tackles. He has recorded 10+ tackles in a game five times this season with a career-high 17 tackles Nov. 16 against nationally-ranked Stony Brook. Toscano also finished with 11 tackles three times: vs. nationally-ranked URI, vs. Monmouth and last week at Maine.

Toscano has been the Wildcats' top tackler in 5 of 12 games, including each of the last three weeks with 39 tackles in that span. He ranks third on the team in both tackles for loss (6.0) and sacks (3.5). Toscano's other stats include a fumble recovery, three pass breakups and three quarterback hurries.

Tomlinson ranks No. 9 in the nation with a CAA-best 6.3 receptions per game (6.3) and is 14^th in receiving TDs with nine, which ranks fourth in the conference. He is UNH's leader in receptions (76), receiving yards (810), receiving TDs and total touchdowns (10). The 76 receptions are the most by a Wildcat since 2017 and it is tied at #8 on the program's list of single-season superlatives.

Tomlinson has scored a TD in 8 of 12 games and has eight games of 5+ catches and nine games of 50+ yards, including back-to-back games of seven catches for 106 yards and a TD vs. Bryant and 10 catches for 105 yards and a touchdown at Harvard. Also of note, Tomlinson scored both of UNH's touchdowns at Elon, which included his first career rushing TD.

Tomlinson has led the team in receptions 10 times and receiving yards six times with a total of three 100+ receiving yard efforts.

Morgan has completed 230 of 349 passes for 2,311 yards and 22 TDs. He ranks second in the CAA in both passing TDs and completions per game (20.91), as well as third in completion percentage (65.9%) and passing yards per game (210.1).

Morgan received both the CAA Offensive Player of the Week and New England Writers Association Gold Helmet awards after he tied UNH's record of six TD passes in a game against Stonehill to finish the game with a QB rating of 247.7; he threw a pair of touchdowns each of the first three quarters before watching the fourth quarter from the sidelines with UNH leading 45-6.

In the next game, Morgan threw for 314 yards, four TDs and a 208.6 rating against Bryant. After missing one game because of injury, he returned to action at UAlbany to throw for three touchdowns and record a 201.9 rating.

Poirier has anchored UNH's offensive line as the starting center all 12 games. His blocking has led the Wildcats to the top pass completion percentage in the CAA (66.24%) and, in the red zone, 24 touchdowns with 35 scores overall in 44 trips inside the opponents' 20 yard line.

Lehane is ranked No. 9 in the nation and second in the CAA with a punting average of 45.1 on 53 punts. That average currently ranks best in UNH history for a single season by surpassing the current benchmark of 43.1 yards per punt established in 2014.

Lehane has 15 punts of 50+ yards with a long of 68 at Holy Cross, where he averaged 54.5 yards on four punts. He punted a career-high 10 times at UCF with an average of 44.6 yards that included a long of 59.

Lehane also averaged 50+ yards per punt against Monmouth with three punts for 154 yards (51.33 per punt). He had three punts of 50+ yards, including a long of 55, with an average of 47.86 yards per punt at Elon.

Urda has been an instrumental part of UNH's kickoff coverage team that ranks 10^th in the nation in yards allowed per return (15.85). He has been credited with eight solo tackles and three assisted tackles for a total of 11. Urda also has a fumble recovery.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results