Seven Blue Devils Earn All-NEC Football Honors

The Central Connecticut football squad had a total of seven members honored with All-Northeast Conference selections on Wednesday. The trio of seniors Kelvin Apari, JJ Colimon and Tyshaun James were named to the All-NEC First Team.

Apari transferred to CCSU from Harvard for his final season. Apari collected 49 tackles and ranked second in the league with 5.5 sacks and 12.0 tackles for loss. A disruptive edge rusher, he forced two fumbles on the season and was among the nation's leaders, recording 1.3 TFL per game. He twice had 10+ tackles in a game, including a season-high 14.0 against Columbia, when he added four TFL and 1.5 sacks.

Colimon, a senior lineman from Cambridge, MA, helped anchor the Blue Devils' offensive line. He helped the Blue Devils offense lead the country in time of possession at 34:24 per game. Central averaged 329.5 yards of total offense per game. The CCSU passing offense was third at 198.4 yards per game.

James capped his career as CCSU's all-time leader with 18 career receiving touchdowns. The senior wideout was named All-NEC First Team for the second time. One of the top receivers in the league, James finished with 45 catches for 674 yards and five touchdowns, while added 67 rushing yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. He also ranked among the NEC leaders in receptions per game (4.09, 4th), receiving yards per game (59.0, 5th) and all-purpose yards per game (65.09, 7th). James had a league-high 169 yards on seven catches with a touchdown on Nov. 13 at Duquesne.

Central had four players named to the Second Team. Senior linebacker Tre Jones, and juniors Jahlil Brown, Chizi Umunakwe and sophomore Tyler Boatwright.

Jones, who was named to the First Team in 2019, missed action due to injury during the season, but still collected 34.0 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 5.0 TFL. Brown helped anchor the defense from his position in the defensive backfield. He led the team with 59.0 tackles and had three pass breakups. Umunakwe was second on the team with 50.0 tackles as a linebacker. He also added 3.0 sacks and 6.0 TFL. Boatwright played in eight contests and helped solidify the CCSU pass defense. He recorded 26.0 tackles and had an interception and a team-high eight pass breakups.

The Blue Devils tied for third in the league standings at 4-3 after a win in the season-finale. CCSU went 4-7 overall in 2021.