Monday, December 1, 2014
by Cody Bush, PFL Media Relations

SAINT LOUIS, Mo. – Dayton running back Connor Kacsor, Stetson safety Donald Payne, Davidson running back Jeffrey Keil, Drake defensive lineman Mack Marrin and San Diego head coach Dale Lindsey were the recipients of the Pioneer Football League’s top honors in a vote of the league’s coaches.

In addition to these awards, the league will present its first-ever Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Wednesday, coinciding with the announcement of the 2014 Academic All-PFL teams. The PFL will announce its 22nd All-PFL squads, Tuesday.

Kacsor, a senior from Leo, Indiana, was named the league’s Offensive Player of the Year after piecing together the seventh-best single-season rushing performance in PFL history. He recorded 1,547 rushing yards during the season, including 1,115 yards in PFL play, and his 140.6 yards per game ranked fourth among all FCS rushers at regular season’s end. A finalist for the Walter Payton Award, Kacsor also led the PFL in scoring with 17 touchdowns and 102 points, 17 points more than the next closest player and ranked 11th among all FCS players. It is the sixth time a Dayton student-athlete has been named the league’s Offensive Player of the Year since the award was instituted in 2001.

Payne, a sophomore from Fayetteville, Georgia, earned the league’s Defensive Player of the Year one year after winning the league’s Freshman Defensive Player of the Year honor – the first to accomplish that feat since the freshman honors were created in 2006. He recorded a PFL record and FCS best 174 tackles (14.5 per game) during a regular-season campaign that saw him also set the PFL single-game tackle mark (30 versus Campbell, Nov. 1) and post two additional 20-tackle outings. A finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, Payne was not a one-dimensional player, recording 18.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, four interceptions, four pass breakups, two fumbles forced and two fumbles recovered during the campaign.

Keil, a freshman from Tampa, Florida, was tapped as the league’s Freshman Offensive Player of the Year after recording 725 rushing yards and eight touchdowns during his rookie campaign. He ranked fifth among FCS freshman with 60.4 yards per game at regular season’s end. Keil made a splash with his 33-carry, 215-yard, two-touchdown performance against Stetson, Oct. 25, making him one of five FCS freshmen to rush for more than 200 yards in a single game. He pieced together the best single-season rushing effort by a Wildcats runner since Jonathon Hubbard’s 769-yard campaign in 2006. Keil is the second Davidson student-athlete to receive the league’s Freshman Offensive Player of the Year honor, joining Jonathan Carkhuff, who won the award in 2010.

Marrin, a redshirt-freshman from Mendota Heights, Minnesota, picked up the league’s Freshman Defensive Player of the Year honor – the third Drake student-athlete to earn the honor in six seasons. He finished the regular season with a PFL freshman-best 12.5 tackles for loss, including five sacks as part of a 31-tackle season. Marrin did the bulk of that work in conference play with 9.5 tackles for loss and four sacks in the eight conference outings, including a two-sack effort in a Oct. 25 contest against Butler. He joins Tyler Moorehead and Travis Merrit as previous Drake student-athletes to win the freshman defensive honor.

In his second season as San Diego head coach Dale Lindsey led the program to its first appearance in the NCAA Division I Football Championship and was selected by his fellow coaches as the league’s Coach of the Year. The Toreros recorded a 7-1 record to clinch their third PFL championship in the last four seasons. Under Lindsey’s guidance, San Diego has posted a 17-5 regular-season record in the last two season. It is the fifth time a San Diego head coach has won the league’s top coaching honor, which is now in its 22nd season.

San Diego won the 2014 PFL regular-season title, its third in the last four seasons and sixth all-time. Each of the Toreros titles have been won in the last 10 seasons.

2014 PFL AWARDS
Offensive Player of the Year: Connor Kacsor, Dayton
Defensive Player of the Year: Donald Payne, Stetson
Freshman Offensive Player of the Year: Jeffrey Keil, Davidson
Freshman Defensive Player of the Year: Mack Marrin, Drake
Coach of the Year: Dale Lindsey, San Diego
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: To be announced Wednesday