Per GoBearcats:
Three Bearcats collected All-Big 12 First Team accolades on Thursday with redshirt senior right guard Luke Kandra, redshirt junior defensive tackle Dontay Corleone and redshirt junior tight end Joe Royer each collecting the honors from the league’s coaches.
In 2023, Kandra earned Second Team honors from the coaches and First Team mention from the Associated Press. Corleone was a Second Team selection by the coaches and AP last fall.
In 2024, Kandra was the Big 12’s highest-rated right guard by Pro Football Focus for the second straight season. The Cincinnati native and Elder High School graduate led a Bearcats offense that ranked sixth in the league in total offense (420.6) and paved the way for running back Corey Kiner to rush for a second consecutive 1,000-yard season. Kandra will graduate with his MBA from UC next week. He was a preseason All-Big 12 selection this fall after earning Walter Camp Second Team and Associated Press Third Team All-America honors in 2023. Kandra transferred to UC from Louisville prior to 2023 and started 24 straight games, giving up just one sack and consistently grading out as the Bearcats top offensive lineman.
Corleone, nicknamed “The Godfather,” earned all-conference honors for a third straight season in 2024. The Cincinnati native and Colerain High School product was a 2022 First Team All-American Athletic Conference selection and Third Team AP All-American in 2022 before earning All-Big 12 mention the last two seasons. Corleone missed three months of full-contact practice after being diagnosed with blood clots this summer. He returned to action Week 2 and went on to start the final 11 games of the season. Facing near constant double teams, he anchored Cincinnati’s new 3-3-5 defense, totaling 26 tackles, 5.0 TFLs and 3.5 sacks. Corleone has totaled 109 tackles, 17 TFLs and 9.5 sacks over 34 career games.
Royer, another Cincinnati native and an Elder High School teammate of Kandra, broke Travis Kelce’s 12-year-old school record for single-season receptions by a tight end. He led all Big 12 tight ends with 50 catches and tallied 521 yards and three touchdowns. Royer battled injuries over four seasons at Ohio State before transferring back home to the Bearcats this past season and emerging as one of the nation’s top tight ends with the Bearcats.
Five Bearcats Earn Eight Honorable Mention Awards
Three Bearcats were picked as honorable mention All-Big 12 selections as well: senior punter Mason Fletcher, redshirt senior linebacker Jared Bartlett, and redshirt junior linebacker Jake Golday.
Fletcher ends his career with his third all-conference accolade after earning honorable mention honors last season and All-AAC first-team distinctions in 2022. The Melbourne, Australia native averaged 42.6 yards per punt this past season, booting nine punts of at least 50 yards and placing nine inside the 20-yard line. He ends his career ranking second all-time in program history in career punt average (44.0) and fifth all-time in career punting yards (8,747).
In his first season with the Bearcats after transferring in from West Virginia, Bartlett was a disruptive force who ranked among the league leaders in sacks (7.5, T-2nd), and tackles for loss (11.5, T-4th). He led UC in both categories as well as tackles (69) while starting eight games. Bartlett had at least one TFL in nine of 12 games this year and had a stretch of five straight games in which he recorded a sack. The Miami, Fla. native registered a season-best 10 tackles in the finale game of the year vs. TCU.
Golday, also in his first season with Cincinnati after joining the program from Central Arkansas, immediately made his presence felt. He started eight games at linebacker and ranked second on the team with 58 tackles while accumulating seven tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups, and 1.5 sacks. Golday was the Big 12’s second-highest graded linebacker according to PFF (81.3) and its top-graded linebacker in pass coverage (83.3). He earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors following the UCF game after he recorded six tackles, 2.5 TFL, and 1.5 sacks in the 19-13 win.
Five Bearcats also received votes for conference player of the year awards and were deemed honorable mention honorees.
Corleone (Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year), Kandra (Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year), and Bartlett (Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year) received votes as well as redshirt sophomore quarterback Brendan Sorsby (Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year) and freshman safety Jiquan Sanks (Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year).
After winning the starting quarterback job in fall camp, Sorsby grabbed the reins of the offense and started all 12 games under center. The Denton, Texas native completed 249-of-389 passes for 2,813 yards and 18 touchdowns while adding 447 yards on the ground and nine rushing TDs. Sorsby’s completion percentage (64.0%) ranks seventh all-time in school history in a single season, and his nine rushing touchdowns are third-most in a season ever by a UC quarterback. He ended the regular season as one of just three FBS quarterbacks with at least 2,500 passing yards, 15+ passing touchdowns, and 9+ rushing touchdowns, and he was the only FBS quarterback this season with one game of at least 425 passing yards and one game with at least 125 rushing yards. Sorsby was a two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week recipient, receiving the honors after the Towson and Texas Tech games.
A true freshman from Columbus, Ga., Sanks started the first five games of the season and tallied 42 tackles, one pass breakup, one forced fumble, and one tackle for loss. Against Towson, he became the first true freshman to start a season opener for the Bearcats since Marquise Copeland in 2015.
