UNI Football: 4 Earn MVFC Preseason Offense Honors

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – UNI football's Briley Moore, Marcus Weymiller, Isaiah Weston and Cal Twait were named to the the Missouri Valley Football Conference 2018 preseason offense all-league units.

Ten seniors, five juniors and a sophomore highlight the first-team offensive squad, while all 10 league schools have representation on either the first- or second-team unit.

Briley Moore earned first-team recognition while Weymiller, Weston and Twait earned spots on the second team.

Moore, a junior from Blue Springs, Missouri, saw action in all of UNI's 13 games last season. He caught 38 passes for 494 yards and had at least two receptions in eight games. His 38 catches were the most receptions by a Panther tight end in decade. He caught seven passes for 99 yards against Cal Poly last year and notched his first career 100-yard game against South Dakota.

Weymiller, a senior from Waukon, Iowa, earned CoSIDA All-America second team honors last year. Injury kept the running back out of the first part of the season in 2017. He recorded more than 100 rushing yards in four games. He ran the ball 200 times, earning 809 yards in rushing and eight scores. He also caught 11 passes for 100 yards. He ran an FCS-high 42 times in a single game against South Dakota State, earning 170 yards rushing and scored twice for the Panthers.

Weston is a wide receiver out of Albertville, Minnesota. The sophomore played in all 13 games last year as a redshirt freshman. He scored five touchdowns and caught 22 passes for 380 yards. He opened the season with a career-high 72 yards receiving and four catches against Iowa State. He was named to the MVFC All-Newcomer Team.

Twait enters his senior year on the offensive line. The Manson, Iowa, native earned preseason All-MVFC Honorable Mention honors last year and battled injuries throughout the season. He started eight times for the Panthers at left tackle. He helped propel UNI to 1,920 yards on the ground and 3,063 through the air, scoring on 47 of 51 red zone attempts, which ranked No. 1 in the FCS. The 3,063 passing yards were the most by any Panther squad since 2005.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

The First Team is highlighted by one of the league's all-time prolific quarterbacks. Taryn Christion of South Dakota State already 7th all-time in the league record book with 8,515 career passing yards, and he's tied for fourth all-time with 72 TD passes. He's third all-time in MVFC history with 9,697 career yards.

The three running backs combined for 3,215 rush yards last year and each had 12 or more rushing TDs. Bruce Anderson of North Dakota State led the league last year with 1,216 total yards, while Tevin McCaster of Youngstown State topped the MVFC with 96.9 yards per game and 13 rushing TDs. James Robinson of Illinois State just missed 1,000 rush yards (933), and he added 12 rushing TDs. Brock Robbins of NDSU was selected as the league's top fullback.

The league lost 7 of its top 10 receivers last year (catches/game), but three returned and they all earned first-team selection (Shamar Jackson of South Dakota, Darrell James of Southern Illinois and Spencer Schnell of Illinois State). TE Briley Moore eared the first-team nod for the UNI Panthers.

The line is highlighted by two players each from North Dakota State (Zack Johnson and Tanner Volson) and Youngstown State (Vitas Hrynkiewicz and Gavin Wiggins). Illinois State's Drew Himmelman represents the Redbirds on the O-Line and is the only sophomore on the first-team squad.

Specialists include Steven Wethli of Youngstown State (long snapper) and Chase Vinatieri of South Dakota State (placekicker).

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