Mid-South Conference Announces 2022 Football Awards

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Mid-South Conference officials announced the 2022 All MSC Football teams and individual award winners on Thursday.

Pioneer College Caterers is the official sponsor of the 2022 Mid-South Conference football awards. Pioneer College Caterers is an organization committed to providing for the food service needs of Christian colleges and universities.  

Bethel's (Tenn.) Joaquin Collazo III was voted as the Craig Mullins MSC Offensive Player of the Year, while Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) Luke Bowman is the MSC Bluegrass Defensive Player of the Year.

The individual awards and all-conference teams are selected by a vote of the Football coaches. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players.

In addition to the players of the year, Georgetown's (Ky.) Gehrig Slunaker is the Offensive Freshman of the Year and Cumberlands' (Ky.) Malik Thornton is Defensive Freshman of the Year. Bethel's Michael Jasper is the 2022 Ron Finley Coach of the Year while Lindsey Wilson's Daniel Cotter is the assistant coach of the year.

Collazo helped the Wildcats  capture the MSC regular season title while throwing for 3,077 yards -- which led the MSC and ranked second in the NAIA. He ended the regular season throwing for 27 touchdowns in 11 games. Collazo's touchdowns rank fourth in the NAIA while his 279.7 yards per game are sixth in the country. He also caught one touchdown this season.

Bowman finished the regular season with 70 tackles while helping the Blue Raiders to a 9-1  record and a No. 8 national ranking. His 7.8 tackles per game are fifth-best in the conference. Bowman added 4.5 sacks, 13.5 tackles for loss and one fumble recovery. His tackles for loss rank third in the MSC.

Slunaker threw for 1,399 yards in 10 games this season. He averaged 139.9 yards per game and threw 13 touchdowns. Slunaker's 139.9 yards per game are sixth in the MSC and he ran for three touchdown this year. Thornton recorded 15 tackles and had four interceptions in his freshman season. His four interceptions led the Patriots and tied for second in the conference.

Jasper picks up his first conference coach of the year honor after guiding Bethel to its sixth overall title. Bethel enters the NAIA Football Championship Series as the No. 4 seed.

Eleven Wildcats were named to the first team while four were named to the second team.

Cotter leads a Lindsey Wilson defense that has allowed just 9.1 points per game and 193.8 yards per game. The Blue Raiders rank first in yards per game and third in points per game. Lindsey is giving up an NAIA-best 21.1 rushing yards per game.

Twenty-eight players earned first-team all-conference honors and 30 were selected second-team all-conference as voted on by the coaches. Ties for all-conference teams were not broken.

2022 First Team All Mid-South Conference:

2022 Second Team All Mid-South Conference: