The 2025 All-MAC teams and individual awards were revealed by the conference on Thursday, two days prior to the annual MAC Championship Game in Detroit.
Individual Awards
The individual awards were voted on by the MAC’s
13 head coaches:
- Vern Smith Leadership Award (MAC MVP): Nadame Tucker, DE, Western Michigan
- MAC Offensive Player of the Year: Broc Lowry, QB, Western Michigan
- MAC Defensive Player of the Year: Nadame Tucker, DE, Western Michigan
- MAC Special Teams Player of the Year: Da’Realyst Clark, KR, Kent State
- MAC Freshman of the Year: Cameron Pettaway, RB, Bowling Green
- MAC Coach of the Year: Lance Taylor, Western Michigan
All-MAC Teams
The MAC released First, Second, and Third team selections:
First Team
Second Team
Third Team
All-MAC Breakdown by Team – Total (First, Second, Third)
There were 88 players selected as All-MAC, with 29 appearing on First Team, 30 appearing on Second Team, and 29 appearing on Third Team.
- Toledo — 17 (7, 5, 5)
- Buffalo — 9 (4, 3, 2)
- Miami (OH) — 9 (4, 3, 2)
- Ohio — 9 (2, 4, 3)
- Western Michigan — 7 (4, 1, 2)
- Bowling Green — 7 (3, 2, 2)
- Akron — 6 (0, 4, 2)
- Eastern Michigan — 6 (0, 3, 3)
- Central Michigan — 5 (2, 1, 2)
- Kent State — 5 (1, 2, 2)
- UMass — 4 (1, 1, 2)
- Northern Illinois — 4 (0, 1, 3)
- Ball State — 1 (1, 0, 0)
- Toledo led the MAC with 17 overall selections and 7 First Team All-MAC selections. Nobody else had more than 9 overall selections or 4 First Team All-MAC selections. Toledo has ranked first, or tied for first, in total selections in four of the last five seasons.
- Toledo’s 17 All-MAC selections are a program-record and the second-most ever by a MAC team. In 1999, Marshall warranted 18 total selections.
- Nadame Tucker is the first Western Michigan player to win the Vern Leadership Award recognizing the top player in the MAC since Zach Terrell in 2016. Fannin is the first defensive player to win the award since Northern Illinois defensive end Sutton Smith won in 2018. Of the 44 winners, five have been defensive players (four defensive ends, including Tucker).
- Broc Lowry is the first Western Michigan player to win MAC Offensive Player of the Year since LeVante Bellamy in 2019. Western Michigan players have won this award 10 times, breaking a tie with Bowling Green and Toledo for most in MAC history. Lowry is only the second quarterback to win the award in the past seven years, joining 2022 winner Kurtis Rourke from Ohio.
- Nadame Tucker is the first Western Michigan player to win MAC Defensive Player of the Year since Ali Fayad in 2021. Western Michigan players have won this award 12 times, which only trails Miami (OH) for second place in the MAC. Tucker is the first defensive end to win the award since Jose Ramirez from Eastern Michigan in 2022.
- Da’Realyst Clark is the first Kent State player to win MAC Special Teams Player of the Year since Matthew Trickett in 2019. Clark is the first Kent State return specialist to win since Dri Archer in 2012.
- Cameron Pettaway is the first Bowling Green player to win MAC Freshman of the Year since Anthon Samuel in 2011. Five of the last six winners of this award have been running backs.
- Lance Taylor is the first Western Michigan head coach to win MAC Coach of the Year since P.J. Fleck in 2016. All 10 winners since 2016 qualified for the MAC Championship Game. In that timespan, four of the nine won the MAC Championship Game. Eight different Western Michigan coaches have won this award, each one time.
- Toledo saw nine of 11 defensive starters earn an All-MAC selection. Three defensive linemen (Martez Poynter, Malachi Davis, Esean Carter), two linebackers (K’Von Sherman, Chris D’Appolonia), and four defensive backs (Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, Andre Fuller, Braden Awls, Avery Smith). The Rockets’ defense ranks second in the FBS in yards allowed and fourth in points allowed.
- The three back-to-back First Team All-MAC selections are Toledo WR Junior Vandeross III, Buffalo LB Red Murdock, and Miami (OH) K Dom Dzioban.
- The 13 repeat All-MAC selections from 2024 are Buffalo WR Victor Snow, Buffalo OL Trevor Brock, Buffalo OL Tyler Doty, Buffalo LB Red Murdock, Central Michigan LB Jordan Kwiatkowski, Miami (OH) DB Eli Blakey, Miami (OH) K Dom Dzioban, Ohio QB Parker Navarro, Toledo WR Junior Vandeross III, Toledo OL Ethan Spoth, Toledo DB Avery Smith, Toledo KR Bryson Hammer, and Western Michigan DB Tate Hallock.
- The four repeat All-MAC selections from 2023 are Buffalo OL Tyler Doty, Eastern Michigan P Mitchell Tomasek, Toledo WR Trayvon Rudolph (played at Northern Illinois in 2023), and Western Michigan RB Jalen Buckley.
- The two repeat All-MAC selections from 2022 are Eastern Michigan P Mitchell Tomasek and Miami (OH) K Dom Dzioban (qualified as punter in 2022).
- The one repeat All-MAC selection from 2021 is Toledo WR Trayvon Rudolph (played at Northern Illinois in 2021).
- There are three 3-time All-MAC selections — Eastern Michigan P Mitchell Tomasek, Miami (OH) K Dom Dzioban, and Toledo WR Trayvon Rudolph.
- Two players earned multiple All-MAC selections in 2025. Buffalo’s Victor Snow qualified for First Team as a wide receiver and Second Team as a return specialist. Toledo’s Trayvon Rudolph qualified for Second Team as a wide receiver and Second Team as a return specialist.
