Rock Hill, S.C.----The Wingate University Bulldogs piled up major awards Thursday morning, when the South Atlantic Conference announced the regular season football award winners. Marquise Fleming is the SAC Defensive Player of the Year, while Brooks Bentley is the Offensive Freshman of the Year. Fleming and Tre Morrison earn All-SAC honors on the defensive side, while Porfirio Acosta and Caleb Bonesteel pick up All-SAC honors offensively. Tremel Jones and Blake Martin earn spots on the All-Piedmont Offense team, while Daniel Morrison, Bryan Bordeaux, Dontorian Best and Dequan Mosley earn All-Piedmont defensive accolades.

Fleming gives Wingate four SAC Defensive Player of the Year winners in the last seven seasons. DJ Horne won it last year, with Cardell Rawlings earning the honor in 2018 and Ray Edwards taking home the hardware in 2016. Fleming leads the nation with his 14 sacks, averaging a nation's-best 1.27 sacks per game. He ranks fifth in the nation with 22.5 tackles for loss, collecting a pair of tackles for loss per game. Fleming leads the Bulldogs with 63 tackles, adding three forced fumbles to go along with seven QB hurries. He has at least one TFL in eight of 11 games, with at least one sack in six contests. Fleming has four multi-sack contests, while collecting three or more TFLs five times.

Bentley is the sixth Bulldog to take home SAC Freshman of the Year accolades, giving the 'Dogs winners in back-to-back years after Jordon Thomas took home Defensive Freshman of the Year accolades last year. Bentley took over as the starter during the season and became one of the top quarterbacks in the conference. He finished the season completing 126 of 191 passes for 1,834 yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 183 yards per game with a completion percentage of 66 percent. He added 141 rushing yards and four more touchdowns on the ground. Over his last five game, Bentley complete 92-of-138 passes for over 1300 yards, averaging 260 yards per game while throwing for nine touchdowns and running for four more. He threw for 335 yards and three TDs in the win over #7 Lenoir-Rhyne, adding 37 rushing yards and a score to earn SAC and National Player of the Week honors.

Morrison adds All-SAC accolades to his overflowing trophy case, after piling up accolades in 2022 when he led the nation in passes defended, earning first team All-SAC, All-Region and All-American accolades. The cornerback registered 42 tackles in 2023 with 2.5 tackles for loss. He had a team-best eight pass break-ups, adding a pair of interceptions and a forced fumble.

Acosta started every game at center for the Bulldogs, helping Wingate's balanced attack rank third in total offense, fourth in scoring offense, second in passing offense and third in rushing offense.

Bonesteel is the All-SAC kicker, connecting on 10-of-14 field goals on the season while converting all 37 extra points. He was four-for-four on kicks under 30 yards, going four-for-six from kicks from 30-39 yards while adding a pair of field goals of over 40 yards. He connected on a season-long 45-yard field goal in the win at UVA Wise in the finale.

Jones earns a spot on the All-Piedmont Offense Team. He led the Bulldogs with 48 receptions and 855 yards, while also hauling in a team-best seven touchdowns. Jones had back-to-back 100-yard efforts against Limestone and Barton, going for 110 yards against the Saints and 163 yards with a TD against Barton. He also had 101 yards in the Newberry victory. Jones had 80 receiving yards and a pair of TDs in the Emory & Henry victory.

Martin is another All-Piedmont selection on the offensive side. The offensive lineman has been a key of one of the league's top offenses. The Bulldogs averaged 27.1 points per game, averaging 373 yards of offense with 141 rushing yards and 232 passing yards per game, ranking in the top four in the SAC in scoring, offense, passing and rushing.

Morrison earns a spot on the All-Piedmont Defense squad. He collected 41 tackles on the season, piling up nine tackles for loss and six sacks, adding three QB hurries and an interception. Morrison had back-to-back two-sack games against Emory & Henry and Erskine, while adding sacks against Barton and Newberry.

Bordeaux is also an All-Piedmont Defensive selection. He had 48 tackles on the season with 7 tackles for loss, two sacks, three QB hurries, a forced fumble and a pass break-up. Bordeaux had at least 0.5 TFLs in nine of 11 contests, with two TFLs and 1.5 sacks against Erskine, adding a forced fumble. He had eight tackles in the LR win, while also notching eight stops at UVA Wise.

Best is another defensive player on the All-Piedmont team. He is second on the team with 61 tackles, with four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, adding two QB hurries and a pass break-up. He had seven tackles with a TFL in the Albany State win. He had a sack in the Barton win, with 0.5 sacks against Erskine.

Mosley is another defensive player to earn All-Piedmont honors. He registered 23 tackles with five tackles for loss, adding two interceptions and two break-ups. Mosley had a pick-six in the Emory & Henry win, while also notching the game-ending interception against Lenoir-Rhyne. He had 2.5 tackles for loss against Barton, with 1.5 TFLs against Erskine.

ALL-SAC OFFENSE
QB – Dustin Noller, Limestone
RB – Jordan Terrell, Barton
RB – Tre Stewart, Limestone
RB – Dwayne McGee, Lenoir-Rhyne
WR – Jelani Baker, Limestone
WR – Bo Pryor, Catawba
WR – Kameron Johnson, Barton
OL – Leondre Andreas, Mars Hill
OL – Alex Buschow, Barton
OL – Shane Wells, Lenoir-Rhyne
OL – JJ Martin, Limestone
OL – Porfirio Acosta, Wingate
TE – Beau DeBerry, Mars Hill
PK – Caleb Bonesteel, Wingate
LS – Blake Arnoult, Newberry
RS – DeAree Rogers, Lenoir-Rhyne
 
ALL-SAC DEFENSE
DL – Marquise Fleming, Wingate
DL – Andre Jefferson, Lenoir-Rhyne
DL – Dajavon White, Tusculum
DL – Damipi Lamboni, Mars Hill
LB – Landon Honeycutt, Mars Hill
LB – Jon Ross Maye, Lenoir-Rhyne
LB – Shane Perry, Barton
LB – Chandler Matthews, Limestone
DB – Tre Morrison, Wingate
DB – Monroe Sanderson, Mars Hill
DB – Major Williams, Carson-Newman
DB – Ryan Dolce, Tusculum
P – Ethan Muncy, Emory & Henry

ALL- PIEDMONT OFFENSE
QB – Preston Brown, Catawba
RB – Dwayne Wright, Newberry
RB – Marquece Williams, Catawba
WR – Tremel Jones, Wingate
WR – Deondre Lester, Lenoir-Rhyne
WR – Drew Dixon, Limestone
OL – Xavier Jennings, Lenoir-Rhyne
OL – Blake Jefferson, Lenoir-Rhyne
OL – Kody Varn, Newberry
OL – Cameron Ivy-Young, Catawba
OL – Blake Martin, Wingate
TE – John Godwin, Lenoir-Rhyne
PK – Bryson Sims, Catawba
LS – Carson Keaton, Lenoir-Rhyne
RS – Bo Pryor, Catawba
 
ALL- PIEDMONT DEFENSE
DL – Daniel Morrison, Wingate
DL – Devante Gambrell, Newberry
DL – Damon Early, Limestone
DL – Bryan Bordeaux, Wingate
LB – Dontorian Best, Wingate
LB – AJ Valentine, Newberry
LB – Percy King, Lenoir-Rhyne
LB – Matt Smith, Barton
DB – C'Darius Kelley, Lenoir-Rhyne
DB – Dequan Mosley, Wingate
DB – Deno Wardlow, Catawba
DB – James Ussery, Lenoir-Rhyne
P – Bear Huggins, Barton 

ALL- MOUNTAIN OFFENSE
QB – JR Martin, Mars Hill
RB – Jon Gullette, Mars Hill
RB – Jaevon Gillespie, Virginia-Wise
RB – J'Quan Anderson, Emory & Henry
WR – Malik Laurent, Mars Hill
WR – Tyler Burke, Tusculum
WR – Cam Peoples, Emory & Henry
OL – Justin Bullock, Mars Hill
OL – Ben Shellenback, Tusculum
OL – Noah Sage, Emory & Henry
OL – Christian Jones, Carson-Newman
OL – Ethan Blank, Virginia-Wise
TE – Will Shellenback, Tusculum
PK – Trace Butcher, Emory & Henry
LS – Josh Curray, Tusculum
RS – Cam Peoples, Emory & Henry
 
ALL- MOUNTAIN DEFENSE
DL – Boris Lewis, Mars Hill
DL – Jacorey Long, Carson-Newman
DL – Andre Crawley, Jr., Emory & Henry
DL – Ean Rhea, Emory & Henry
LB – Kaleb Lundy, Emory & Henry
LB – Wesley Scott, Tusculum
LB – Dexter Fitzpatrick, Mars Hill
LB – Mekhi Brown, Carson-Newman
DB – Addison Knicely, Emory & Henry
DB – Tristan Rankin, Mars Hill
DB – Ty'Korian Brown, Tusculum
DB – Jermaine Witherspoon, Tusculum
P - Dylan Beauford, Erskine
  
Defensive Player of the Year
Marquise Fleming, Wingate

Offensive Player of the Year
Dustin Noller, Limestone

Offensive Freshman of the Year
Brooks Bentley, Wingate

Defensive Freshman of the Year
Mekhi Brown, Carson-Newman
 
Jacobs Blocking Trophy
Leondre Andreas, Mars Hill

Coach of the Year
Mike Jacobs, Lenoir-Rhyne