12 Bears Earn Spots on All-Conference Team

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer football team had 12 players receive All-Conference recognition by either the coaches or media the conference announced on Tuesday.

Eight players were named to the All-Southern Conference team as voted by all nine Southern Conference head coaches. The Bears also had 11 players named to the All-Southern Conference team as voted by the media.

Devron Harper and Ty James were named First Team All-Conference at wide receiver by the coaches. Harper, John Thomas, Isaac Dowling and Trey Turk were named First Team All-Conference by the media.

Fred Payton, Drake Starks, Solomon Zubairu, and Lance Wise were all named Second Team All-Conference by the coaches and media. Riley Adcock, Chris Hill and TJ Moore were all named Second Team All-Conference by the media.

Offensive lineman Tyzen Wilkerson and linebacker Christian Hanson were named to the All-Freshman Team.

WR, RS Devron Harper | First Team (Coaches and Media)
Harper had a record-breaking season for the Bears, adding six school records to his resume. Harper finished the season with a conference-leading 16 total touchdowns including 10 receiving, four rushing touchdowns, one kickoff return for a touchdown, and one punt return for a touchdown. Across 11 games, Harper averaged 12.7 yards per catch and 89.7 yards per game. He finished with 987 receiving yards. His 1,566 all-purpose yards this season set a school record and ranked third in the country. Harper also set the school record for the most all-purpose yards recorded in a single game with 293 against VMI.

WR Ty James | First Team (Coaches), Second Team (Media)
James finished the regular season in style, with eight receiving touchdowns over the final five games of the season. That included a record-breaking performance in the final regular season game at Samford as James caught a personal best 13 receptions for a SoCon single game record 351 receiving yards along with two receiving touchdowns. For the season James caught 52 passes for a school record 1,105 yards and led the SoCon with 13 receiving touchdowns.

OL John Thomas | First Team (Media), Second Team (Coaches)
Thomas played both left and right tackle for the Bears and was part of an offensive line that did a tremendous job all season of protecting quarterback Fred Payton. Thomas and the offensive line gave up a conference low 10 sacks all season. The Bears finished third in the conference in rushing yards per game at 187.8 yards per game.

LB Isaac Dowling | First Team (Media), Second Team (Coaches)
A team captain as a sophomore, Dowling built off his superb All-Freshman season with a team-high 99 tackles on the season which ranked second in the conference. He had nine tackles for loss, one sack, two interceptions and a forced fumble during the 2022 season. Dowling finished with 10 or more tackles in four games. He tied his career-high with 17 tackles against The Citadel. Dowling was named SoCon Defensive Player of the Week after his two interception game against Western Carolina.

P Trey Turk | First Team (Media)
Turk led the conference in punting average at 44.4 yards per punt. Turk had a career-long 70-yard punt against The Citadel. For the season, he had nine punts inside the 20-yard line and eight 50+ yard punts.

QB Fred Payton | Second Team (Coaches and Media)
Payton statistically had the best season of any quarterback in Mercer history. He set the school record for single-season passing yards (3,019), passing yards in a game (514), single season passing touchdowns (32), and passing touchdowns in a game (5). Payton threw for at least two touchdowns in all 11 games this season. Payton had thrown 20 passing touchdowns before he threw his first interception of the season. He led the conference and finished fifth in the FCS in passing efficiency with a 172.1 rating. Payton's 32 passing touchdowns were fourth most in the FCS.

TE Drake Starks | Second Team (Coaches and Media)
Starks was a key part of both the Mercer run and pass game. He finished the season with 14 catches for 135 yards with 4 of those receptions for touchdowns. He caugt two of Fred Payton's five touchdown passes in Mercer's 55-point showing at home against ETSU.

DL Solomon Zubairu | Second Team (Coaches and Media)
Zubairu had the most tackles among Mercer defensive lineman the season with 35 tackles including six for loss which was third most on the team. He led the Bears with three sacks on the season. Zubairu also forced a fumble in the regular season finale against Samford.

DB Lance Wise | Second Team (Coaches and Media)
Wise is a two-time team captain and one of the leaders of the Mercer secondary. Wise finished with 58 tackles including 26 solo. He also had two interceptions and 3.5 tackles for loss.

OL Riley Adcock | Second Team (Media)
Adcock was part of a Mercer offensive line that did a tremendous job all season of protecting quarterback Fred Payton. Adcock and the offensive line gave up a conference low 10 sacks all season. The Bears finished third in the conference in rushing yards per game at 187.8 yards per game and led the conference and finished seventh in the FCS in scoring offense, averaging 38.2 points per game.

DL Chris Hill | Second Team (Media)
Hill was one of the anchors on the interior of the defensive line for the Bears. The Mercer defense went a stretch of five consecutive games without allowing an opponent to rush for 100 yards on them. Hill finished the season with 22 tackles including five for loss and a sack.

DB TJ Moore | Second Team (Media)
Moore led the Bears with three interceptions with his first of the season coming at Auburn. Moore was part of a Mercer secondary that led the FCS in interceptions with 17. The Bears gave up a conference low 12 passing touchdowns to opponents. He finished the season with 48 tackles including 1.5 for loss. He also had one fumble recovery.

ALL-SOUTHERN CONFERENCE (Coaches)

First Team Offense
WR - Devron Harper
WR - Ty James

First Team Special Teams
RS – Devron Harper

Second Team Offense
QB - Fred Payton
OL - John Thomas
TE - Drake Starks

Second Team Defense
DL - Solomon Zubairu
LB - Isaac Dowling
DB - Lance Wise

ALL-SOUTHERN CONFERENCE (Media)

First Team Offense
WR - Devron Harper
OL – John Thomas

First Team Defense
LB – Isaac Dowling

First Team Special Teams
RS – Devron Harper
P - Trey Turk

Second Team Offense
QB - Fred Payton
OL - Riley Adcock
TE - Drake Starks
WR - Ty James

Second Team Defense
DL - Solomon Zubairu
DL - Chris Hill
DB - TJ Moore
DB - Lance Wise

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Players Mentioned

Riley Adcock

Isaac Dowling

Christian Hanson

Devron Harper

Chris Hill

Ty James

TJ Moore

John Thomas

Lance Wise Jr.

Solomon Zubairu

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