SAN ANTONIO – In the UTSA football program’s debut year in the American Athletic Conference (AAC), the Roadrunners stayed in the fight for a spot in the AAC championship game until the very end.
UTSA ended the season with a 7-1 conference record, the team’s only AAC loss coming to nationally ranked Tulane in its season finale.
The Roadrunners’ impressive inaugural campaign didn’t end with a conference trophy. However, the program still garnered 16 all-conference selections, while redshirt sophomore Trey Moore was voted the AAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Moore, a local San Antonio product out of Smithson Valley High School, registered 45 total tackles, including 30 solo stops, 17.5 tackles for loss, and a school-record 14 sacks — only 0.5 shy of the AAC single-season record — in the 2023-24 regular season for UTSA. Moore’s averages in sacks (1.17) and tackles for loss (1.5) per game led the AAC and ranked second and sixth nationally, respectively.
UTSA also came away with five honorees on the All-AAC First Team, including Moore, quarterback Frank Harris, safety Rashad Wisdom, wide out Joshua Cephus, and cornerback Cam Alexander. Three of the five student athletes are talents out of the greater San Antonio area.
The Roadrunners’ star signal caller, Frank Harris, made the first-team all-conference list for the second consecutive season. In his senior campaign, Harris has completed 218 of 336 passes for 2,506 yards and 18 touchdowns and rushed for 323 yards and four TDs in 10 games this season. The Schertz Clemens High School graduate will go down in the program record books for his outstanding showing against South Florida, where Harris amassed a program-record 523 yards of offense in the 49-21 win — which earned him Davey O’Brien, Earl Campbell Tyler Rose and AAC Offensive Player of the Week accolades.
Fellow team captain Wisdom earned first-team all-league honors for the third time in his career. Through 12 games, the senior safety and Converse Judson High School graduate accumulated 58 total tackles, 47 solo stops, two sacks, five pass breakups, and a forced fumble.
Houston native Cephus has caught 82 passes for 1,049 yards and nine touchdowns so far this season and currently ranks second in the AAC in receiving yards and third in both receptions per game (6.8) and receiving TDs.
Alexander impressed the league by registering 33 total tackles, 31 solo stops, one tackle for loss, and a team-high 13 pass breakups. The junior from Manvel, Texas, has forced 12 incompletions and earned an 80.9 NFL passing rating against and an 80.0 grade for defensive coverage from Pro Football Focus.
The Roadrunners saw four players land on the second team, including kicker Chase Allen and punter Lucas Dean, offensive guard Terrell Haynes and outside linebacker Donyai Taylor, as well as five student athletes on the third team in offensive tackle — Ernesto Almaraz, tight end Oscar Cardenas and defensive linemen Brandon Brown, Joe Evans and Brandon Matterson. Offensive guard Cory Godinet and linebacker Jamal Ligon received an honorable mention.
UTSA is bowl-eligible for the fourth straight season and awaits its bowl fate, which is set to be announced on Sunday, Dec. 3.