DALLAS — Conference USA unveiled its superlative award winners and three members of the UTSA football program have been honored for their success this season in a vote by the league's head coaches. Frank Harris was named C-USA Most Valuable Player, Kevorian Barnes collected the C-USA Freshman of the Year accolade and Jeff Traylor repeated as C-USA Coach of the Year.
These honors come one day after the Roadrunners reeled in 27 all-conference certificates and a trio of C-USA All-Freshman Team selections for a program-record 30 combined awards.
Harris, a first-team all-conference pick at quarterback this year, has completed 305 of 429 passes for 3,865 yards, 31 touchdowns and a .711 completion percentage, and he also has rushed for 588 yards — the most by a QB in a season — and nine TDs on 120 carries. The senior from Schertz Clemens High School owns seven 300-yard passing performances this fall — also a UTSA record — and set the single-game mark with 414 in the win at Middle Tennessee. A four-time C-USA Offensive Player of the Week honoree this season, he ranks fourth nationally with a league-leading 342.5 yards of total offense per game. He was named 2022 Ryan C-USA Championship Game MVP after completing 32 of 37 passes for 341 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 49 yards and a TD to lead the Roadrunners to their second straight C-USA Championship with a 48-27 win over North Texas on Dec. 2.
Barnes burst onto the scene midway through the season and emerged as one of the top rushers in the league. The redshirt freshman from San Augustine, Texas, has piled up a team-high 713 yards and six touchdowns on 114 carries, good for an average of 6.3 yards per attempt. He also has caught nine passes for 103 yards, an 11.4-yard average. He owns four 100-yard games this fall with 128 yards and two TDs in the win at FIU, 114 yards and a score in the double-overtime victory at UAB, 103 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the 51-7 rout of LA Tech and a season-best 175 yards and a TD in the 48-27 triumph over North Texas in the C-USA Championship Game.
Traylor was named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award earlier this week and now has earned a second straight C-USA Coach of the Year award. A member of the Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards Coach of the Year watch list for the second consecutive year, the Gilmer, Texas, native has led UTSA to an 11-2 record, its second straight C-USA title and a bowl game for the third year in a row. Winners of 10 straight games, the Roadrunners are ranked in three different polls for the second straight year, as they are currently No. 22 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll and 25th in the College Football Playoff rankings.
UTSA now has picked up 10 C-USA superlative awards during its history with seven coming during the three-year Traylor era. In addition to Traylor's 2021 C-USA Coach of the Year award, Sincere McCormick won back-to-back C-USA Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2020-21, while Lucas Dean was the 2020 C-USA Special Teams Player of the Year.
Additionally, McCormick was the 2019 C-USA Freshman of the Year and Josiah Tauaefa earned the same distinction in 2016, while Marcus Davenport was the league's defensive player of the year in 2017.
2022 C-USA Superlative Awards
MVP: Frank Harris, UTSA, QB
Offensive Player of the Year: DeWayne McBride, UAB, RB
Defensive Player of the Year: KD Davis, North Texas, LB
Special Teams Player of the Year: Gavin Baechle, UTEP, K
Freshman of the Year: Kevorian Barnes, UTSA, RB
Newcomer of the Year: Austin Reed, WKU, QB
Coach of the Year: Jeff Traylor, UTSA
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