The University of Cincinnati football team may be without a head coach, but it has two of the top players in the American Athletic Conference.
The conference announced Wednesday that senior linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. is the AAC Defensive Player of the Year, while sophomore punter Mason Fletcher is the AAC Special Teams Player of the Year.
Pace is the second straight Cincinnati player to win the conference's top defensive award, joining cornerback Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner who was the unanimous choice last season. Gardner, who now plays for the New York Jets, went on to be the fourth overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.