JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – East Tennessee State running back Quay Holmes and head coach Randy Sanders each received the conference’s top honor in their respective roles Tuesday afternoon.
Holmes was named Southern Conference Player of the Year and Sanders was honored with SoCon Coach of the Year.
Holmes was named a finalist for Walter Payton Award on Monday and his stats make him rightfully deserving of the conference’s top honor.
Holmes leads the FCS in rushing yards with over 1,400 and 17 total touchdowns. Holmes’ 1,431 rushing yards this season set a new ETSU single-season record, while he also became the schools leading rusher and scorer.
Coach Sanders was named a Stats Perform FCS Eddie Robinson Award Finalist on Monday as well.
Sanders guided the Bucs to a 10-1 overall record this season, including 7-1 in Southern Conference play to earn the outright SoCon Championship for the first time in program history.
Under Sanders, the Bucs were able to knock off SEC foe Vanderbilt to begin the season and picked up monumental wins along the way, including the first win over Wofford since 1998 and the first win in Greenville, S.C. since 1997.
This is the second time since his arrival that Sanders has been named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award – doing so in 2018 as well.