SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A school-record 17 players earned 18 all-Big Sky Conference football honors, it was announced today. The group is comprised of nine players on the first team, four on the second team and four on the third team.

For the first time in school history, Sacramento State swept the individual awards with running back Cameron Skattebo named the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year and nickelback Marte Mapu named the Defensive Player of the Year. Troy Taylor was named the Co-Coach of the Year, sharing the honor with Montana State's Brett Vigen. Taylor has now earned the award in 2019, 2021 and 2022 — all three seasons he has led the Hornets. This season, Taylor led the team to its first undefeated regular-season record in school history going 11-0 with wins over four ranked FCS opponents and a victory at Colorado State. Sacramento State was 8-0 in the Big Sky Conference for the second consecutive year and has won 19 straight conference games which is the second longest streak in league history.

Skattebo is the third Sacramento State player to earn Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year following running back Charles Roberts (1998, 1999) and quarterback Kevin Thomson (2019). Skattebo was also named to the all-Big Sky first team after a season in which he rushed for 1,251 yards. The sophomore also caught 24 passes for 281 yards and finished the year with nine total touchdowns (5 rushing, 3 receiving, 1 kick return). He had seven 100-yard games during the season, including a season high 201 at Eastern Washington. The Rio Linda, Calif., native is currently sixth in school single season history for rushing yards and is second with an average of 7.41 yards per carry. Skattebo was also named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award which is presented to the top offensive player in the FCS.

Mapu joins linebacker Matt Logue (2005) as the only players in school history to be named Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year. The senior ranked second on the team with 65 total tackles, including 6.5 for loss and one sack. He tied for the team lead with a pair of interceptions, added four pass breakups, two quarterback hurries and forced a fumble. Mapu, who started all 11 games during the year, had at least three tackles in each game and tallied five or more in eight contests. He was recently named a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award which is given to the best defensive player in the FCS.

Sacramento State became the first team to sweep the Big Sky Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards since Montana State's Denarius McGhee and Jody Owens in 2012.

Joining Skattebo on the first team offense were wide receiver Pierre Williams, tight end Marshel Martin, guards Jackson Slater and Brandon Weldon, kicker Kyle Sentkowksi and all-purpose player Asher O'Hara. Williams earned first team honors for the third straight season and follows Roberts (1998-2000) and wide receiver Fred Amey (2002-04) as the only players in school history to do so. This season, Williams caught 35 passes for 514 yards and six touchdowns. He currently ranks second in school history with 2,762 career receiving yards, is tied for third with 21 touchdowns and is fourth with 170 receptions. Williams and Amey are also the only players in the history of Sacramento State to have at least 500 receiving yards in all four years of their careers.

Martin returns to the first team for the second consecutive season. He led the Hornets this season with 43 receptions, 587 yards and eight touchdowns. During the season, he caught at least five passes in five games and had touchdowns in six contests. The junior already owns all the career receiving records in Sacramento State history by a tight end and is currently seventh in the school record book with 1,786 career receiving yards. His 21 touchdowns are also tied for third while his 135 career receptions place him sixth all-time at Sacramento State.

Slater and Weldon anchored an offensive line which helped produce a school record 2,757 rushing yards during the season. Both started all 11 games with Slater at left guard and Weldon at right. The honor is the first for Slater who is a true sophomore from Bellevue, Wash. Weldon, a senior from Compton, Calif., returned to the all-Big Sky teams after earning second team honors a year ago. He owns a 36-game consecutive starting streak which is the longest among active members of the team.

Sentkowski earned his second consecutive first team award. The senior kicker made 14-of-17 field goal attempts during the season, including a stretch of 13 in a row. He also set the school single season record with 59 made PATs. The Blaine, Wash., native is now sixth in school history with 208 career points. He also ranks third with 35 career field goals and 103 extra points. Sentkowski is also the school leader in PAT percentage (.990) and second in career field goal percentage (.814).

O'Hara was named all-league as an all-purpose player for the second straight season. The quarterback has been a touchdown machine this season, becoming the first player in school history to rush for at least one touchdown in all 11 regular season games. O'Hara finished the year with 19 rushing touchdowns which is tied for the second most in program history. He also threw for eight scores while completing 62-of-80 (.775) pass attempts during the season. The senior had two 100-yard rushing performances during the season, posting 101 yards against Utah Tech in the season opener and 129 against Idaho. He currently has 797 rushing yards which is the most by a quarterback in school history.

Armon Bailey was the team's second first team selection on defense. The linebacker set career highs with 78 total tackles including 12.5 TFLs and six sacks to lead the team in all three categories. Bailey added four pass breakups, three quarterback hurries, forced two fumbles and recovered one. The Vallejo, Calif., native was credited with at least four tackles in all 11 games and had seven or more in eight of the final nine games of the season. He was twice named Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week during the year.

Offensive linemen Nathan Mejia and Troy Stiefel, defensive tackle Jett Stanley and cornerback Caleb Nelson each took home second team all-Big Sky honors. Mejia started every game at center during his redshirt freshman season while Stiefel returned to the lineup to start every game at left tackle.

Stanley earned starts in each game at defensive tackle. The junior doubled the output from his first two seasons combined with 35 tackles during the year, including 2.5 for loss. His biggest performance came in the win against Montana where he had a career high 10 tackles.

Nelson was named second team all-league following his first season with the Hornets. In 10 games, he had 32 total tackles, including 1.5 for loss. Nelson had a memorable debut at Sacramento State as he returned an interception 98 yards for a score against Utah Tech. He also had a team-best 10 pass breakups during the season and blocked a field goal against Montana.

Quarterback Jake Dunniway, running back Marcus Fulcher, defensive end Killian Rosko and punter Cal McGough were named to the all-Big Sky third team. Dunniway repeated as a third team selection following a season where he completed 147-of-243 passes (.605) for 1,872 yards and 16 touchdowns. The senior tossed touchdown passes in the first 10 games of the season, including two or more in five contests. He is currently sixth in school history with 5,030 career passing yards, sixth in career completions (372), seventh in career attempts (603) and tied for seventh with 33 career touchdowns.

Fulcher earned the honor as both a running back and punt returner. The versatile junior scored eight touchdowns during the year and had 706 all-purpose yards. He rushed for 349 yards and six touchdowns on 60 attempts (5.8 yards per carry) and also caught 33 passes for 228 yards and two scores. The Fresno, Calif., native was a dangerous return man, averaging 12.4 yards per punt return including a season high 44 yarder in the win at Colorado State.

Rosko earned his first all-Big Sky recognition following a season where he had 34 stops, including five for loss. He played a large role in the team's win against Montana with a career high nine tackles and also had seven in the victory at UNI.

McGough finished his freshman regular season by averaging 40.6 yards per punt with a long of 50. He was called upon just 26 times during the season but managed to land 12 inside the 20-yard line and had only one touchback. McGough also accounted for one of the biggest plays in the Causeway Classic with a 20-yard run on a fake punt to keep the drive alive which resulted in a Hornet touchdown.

Sacramento State will continue its season in the second round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs on Saturday Dec. 3, against the winner of Davidson-Richmond at 2 p.m. from Hornet Stadium. Tickets can be purchased for $10.

2022 Big Sky Football Individual Award Winners
Offensive Player of the Year: Cameron Skattebo, RB (SAC)
Defensive Player of the Year: Marte Mapu, OLB/DB (SAC)
Newcomer of the Year: Sean Chambers, QB (MSU)
Freshman of the Year: Gevani McCoy, QB (UI)
Co-Coach of the Year: Troy Taylor (SAC)/Brent Vigen (MSU)
 
First Team All-Big Sky
QB: Miles Hastings (UCD)
RB: Cameron Skattebo (SAC), Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. (UCD)
FB: Derryk Snell (MSU)
WR: Hayden Hatten (UI), Pierre Williams (SAC), Jermaine Jackson (UI)
TE: Marshel Martin (SAC)
OL: Nick Amoah (UCD), Noah Atagi (WSU), Tyson Pauling (PSU), Jackson Slater (SAC), Brandon Weldon (SAC), Hunter Mayginnes (UM)

DT: Sebastian Valdez (MSU), Alex Gubner (UM)
DE: Brody Grebe (MSU), Zach Kennedy (UCD)
OLB: Marte Mapu (SAC), Patrick O'Connell (UM)
MLB: Armon Bailey (SAC), Callahan O'Reilly (MSU), Winston Reid (WSU)
DB: Eddie Heckard (WSU), Justin Ford (UM), Robby Hauck (UM), Maxwell Anderson (WSU), Rex Connors (UCD)

K: Kyle Sentkowski (SAC)
P: Patrick Rohrbach (UM)
KR: Abraham Williams (WSU)
PR: Jermaine Jackson (UI)
ST: Lan Larison (UCD)
AP: Asher O'Hara (SAC)
 * Three MLBs on the 1st team due to a tie
 
Second Team All-Big Sky
QB: Tommy Mellott (MSU)
RB: Elijah Dotson (UNC), Anthony Woods (UI)
WR: Xavier Guillory (ISU), Ty MacPherson (WSU), Beau Kelly (PSU)
TE: McCallan Castles (UCD)
OL: Nathan Mejia (SAC), Rush Reimer (MSU), Connor Pettek (UCD), Jordan Lutui (WSU), Troy Stiefel (SAC), Jordan Ford (UCD)

DT: Jett Stanley (SAC), Kalisi Moli (WSU)
DE: Cosmas Kwete (NAU), Juliano Falaniko (UI)
OLB: Ty Okada (MSU), Paul Moala (UI)
MLB: Fa'Avae Fa'Avae (UI), Elijah Anderson-Taylor (UNC)
DB: Caleb Nelson (SAC), Desmond Williams (WSU), Morgan Vest (NAU), Devon King (UCD), Marcus Harris (UI)

K: Ricardo Chavez (UI)
P: Nick Kokich (EWU)
KR: Malik Flowers (UM)
PR: Haze Hadley (WSU)
ST: Tyler Flink (UM)
AP: Sean Chambers (MSU)
 
Third Team All-Big Sky
QB: Gevani McCoy (UI)/Jake Dunniway (SAC)
RB: Dontae McMillan (WSU), Marcus Fulcher (SAC)
WR: Coleman Owen (NAU), Efton Chism III (EWU), Willie Patterson (MSU), Freddie Roberson (EWU)
TE: Josh Cuevas (CP)
OL: Ethan Atagi (WSU), Logan Floyd (UI), AJ Forbes (UM), PJ Poutasi (NAU), JT Reed (MSU), Brady Odom (UNC)

DT: EJ Ane (PSU), Chubba Ma'ae (UCD)
DE: Killian Rosko (SAC), Eloi Kwete (NAU)
OLB: David Meyer (CP)
MLB: Teddye Buchanan (UCD), Charles Ike (ISU)
DB: Tommy McCormick (UI), Marlon Jones Jr. (EWU), Xavier Bell (PSU), Jehiel Budgett (UCD), Jordan Knapke (UNC)

K: Isaiah Gomez (UCD)
P: Cal McGough (SAC)
KR: Marqui Johnson (MSU)
PR: Marcus Fulcher (SAC)
ST: Sean McCormick (UI)
AP: Junior Bergen (UM)
* Two QBs on the 3rd team due to a tie
* Four WRs on the 3rd team due to a tie
 
Honorable Mention
QB: Gunner Talkington (EWU), Dylan McCaffrey (UNC)
RB: Damon Bankston (WSU)
WR: Chris Coleman (CP), Mitch Roberts (UM), Hendrix Johnson (NAU), Mataio Talalemotu (PSU)
TE: Cole Grossman (UM), Justin Malone (WSU), Anthony Rodriguez (PSU)
OL: Wyatt Hansen (EWU), Justus Perkins (MSU), Beau St. John (UI), Ayden Knapik (UI)
DE: Joshua Jerome (EWU), Elijah Ponder (CP), Leo Tamba (UI), VJ Malo (PSU), Mitchell Johnson (EWU)
MLB: Levi Jancaro (UM), Marcus Welnel (UM), Nolan Askelson (MSU)
DB: Kamden Garrett (WSU)
K: Blake Glessner (MSU)
P: Devin Bale (UNC)
AP: Elijah Dotson (UNC), Draycen Hall (NAU), Emmanuel Daigbe (PSU)
KR: Lan Larison (UCD), Elijah Dotson (UNC)
PR: Elijah Dotson (UNC)
ST: Kurt Gallup (UNC)