Smith, Umunakwe Add All-New England Honors

Central Connecticut senior football players Nasir Smith and Chizi Umunakwe added New England Football Writers All-New England Team honors to their collegiate resumes this week. The NEFWA selects honorees from the 16 Division I colleges and universities in New England that sponsor FCS or FBS football. The team honors the best FBS and FCS players by position in New England.

Smith, an All-NEC First Team selection this fall, rushed for 1,219 yards, the seventh-best total in a single season in program history, to capture the NEC rushing title. His 110.8 yards per game, 14 total touchdowns and 13 rushing touchdowns also led the league in 2022. Smith posted two of the top-three single-game rushing efforts in the league this fall, including a career-best 218-yard effort in the season finale at Stonehill. He finished the year with four consecutive games of 127 yards or more and had six 100+ yard rushing games. Smith had at least one touchdown in six straight games to end the season, with a career-high four scores in his collegiate finale.

Umunakwe a two-time All-NEC honoree, earning First Team honors this fall, is also a Buck Buchanan Award finalist. He finished the year with a league-best 94 tackles and led the league, ranking 22nd nationally, with 9.4 tackles per game. Umunakwe tallied six double-digit tackle games in 2022, with back-to-back 14 tackle games versus Saint Francis and Brown. He recorded 10.5 TFL, 2.0 sacks, 1 QBH and a forced fumble on the year.