Football | 11/26/2014 3:10:00 PM
Moon Township, Pa. – Senior cornerback
Antwan Eddie and senior defensive end
Forrest Mason of the
Robert Morris University football team each earned All-Northeast Conference awards for the second consecutive season as the league revealed its honorees Wednesday afternoon via Twitter.
Eddie and Mason both earned All-NEC Second Team honors for the second time in their careers Wednesday.
Eddie becomes the ninth Colonial to claim multiple NEC honors as a defensive back.
Eddie notched 36 tackles this season, 21 of which were solo stops, while also contributing 1.5 tackles for loss. He grabbed two interceptions and tallied five pass breakups despite opposing offenses at times choosing to stay away from his side of the field. Eddie was the veteran leader of a secondary that saw two true freshmen and a redshirt freshman start in 2014, and he helped the young Colonials to rank among the top 30 nationally in both passing defense and third-down defense. Eddie made seven solo stops against an Eastern Kentucky team that is headed to the NCAA Tournament.
With Eddie's selection, Robert Morris has had at least one All-NEC honoree at defensive back in each of the last nine years. No other league school has such an active streak longer than three years.
Mason becomes only the fifth Colonial to bring home multiple NEC accolades on the defensive line.
Mason tallied 33 stops, including 15 solo hits, while playing in just seven games on the campaign. He notched 5.5 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, five quarterback hurries, two pass breakups along with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Mason was often the only defensive lineman with prior collegiate game experience on the field for RMU in 2014, but his presence helped Robert Morris rank among the top 25 nationally in tackles for loss per game. Mason's strip sack and subsequent fumble recovery that led to the game-winning touchdown helped him claim Defensive Player of the Week honors in mid-October.
Eddie's honor was the 24th all-conference award for a defensive back in program history while Mason's was the 20th all-league selection for a RMU defensive lineman.
