A trio of senior standouts and one junior performer headline the list of 2016 preseason Conference USA Football award winners, as chosen by the league’s 13 head coaches.  Southern Miss senior QB Nick Mullens was selected to repeat as C-USA Offensive Player of the Year, Florida Atlantic senior DE Trey Hendrickson was tabbed the Defensive Player of the Year, while FAU senior P Dalton Schomp and Louisiana Tech junior K Jonathan Barnes share Special Teams Player of the Year honors.

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Mullens set several school records last season for the Golden Eagles as the squad finished 9-5, won the Conference USA West Division crown and earned its first bowl berth since 2011.  En route to being named the 2015 C-USA Offensive Player of the Year, Mullens established school single-season marks for passing yards (4,476), touchdown passes (38), completions (331), passing efficiency (155.16), total offense (4,384), while throwing for 300 or more yards in 10 different games.  His 38 TD passes tied for fourth in the FBS, while his 4,476 passing yards ranked sixth.
 
Hendrickson tallied a Conference USA-high 13.5 sacks in 2015 to earn first team All-Conference USA honors and to finish No. 2 nationally in sacks.  He led an Owls defense that set the program’s all-time single-season record in sacks at 35.  Hendrickson has played in all 36 games since joining the program in 2013 and has tallied 20 career sacks which places him atop the FAU all-time career sack list. He has also forced seven career fumbles, including two that led to scores in 2015.
 
Schomp led the nation in yards per punt a year ago at 48.0 and was a first team All-Conference USA selection following his junior campaign.  He tallied 22 punts of 60 yards or more and saw opponents return just 16 of his 45 punts, for an average of 7.2 yards per return.  Schomp’s longest punt of the 2015 season was a program-record 76-yarder at UTEP.
 
Barnes was one of the highest scoring players in all of college football last season, converting all 60 of his point after touchdown attempts and booting a league-best 22 field goals.  His 126 total points scored and average of 9.7 points per game both ranked 14th in the country last season among all players while the 9.7 points per game ranked fifth among all kickers.  A 2015 Lou Groza Award semifinalist, Barnes capped a terrific season in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl win, scoring 17 points in a 4-for-4 field goal performance that included his second 50-yard kick of the season.  That makes him just one of nine returning FBS kickers who made at least two field goals from that long of a distance last year.

Louisiana Tech had the most overall preseason selections with seven, while Florida Atlantic and Southern Miss each had players comprising six spots.  Old Dominion and UTEP both placed five players on the team.  All 13 C-USA schools that will compete for this year’s championship had at least one player named to the squad.
 
The league’s 21st football season begins on Thursday, September 1.  The 12th annual Conference USA Football Championship Game, pitting the champions of the East and West divisions, will be held Saturday, Dec. 3. 
 

2016 C-USA FOOTBALL COACHES PRESEASON AWARDS

Offensive Player of the Year

Nick Mullens, Sr., QB, Southern Miss
 

Defensive Player of the Year

Trey Hendrickson, Sr., DE, Florida Atlantic
 

Special Teams Players of the Year

Jonathan Barnes, Jr., K, Louisiana Tech
Dalton Schomp, Sr., P, Florida Atlantic
 

Offense

QB          Brent Stockstill, So., Middle Tennessee