AMHERST, Mass. -- Six student-athletes on the Amherst College football team earned All-NESCAC honors as voted by the league's head coaches, highlighted by three defensive players on the All-NESCAC First Team.
Senior defensive backs Matt Durborow and Ricky Goodson and sophomore linebacker Tim Swope earned first-team honors, while senior offensive lineman Jacob Ayyub, senior linebacker Joe Kelly and junior defensive lineman Flynn McGilvray garnered second-team honors. All four captains of the Mammoths earned All-NESCAC recognition.
Durborow earned a first-team nod after receiving second-team honors in 2019. The senior captain from Parsippany, New Jersey, was limited to just 7 games this season but still notched 48 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss and had an interception against Middlebury on Oct. 9. Durborow recorded double-digit tackles in each of the first three games of the season.
Goodson made 37 tackles this season, including 3 tackles for loss and a sack. A senior captain from Feasterville, Pennsylvania, Goodson earned back-to-back NESCAC Defensive Player of the Week honors after a pick-six against Hamilton on Oct. 23 and a four-overtime win against Wesleyan on Oct. 30 in which he had an interception in the second overtime and picked off a pass attempt on Wesleyan's two-point try in the fourth overtime to end the game.
Swope led the Mammoths with 88 tackles this season to rank second in the NESCAC, with 8.0 tackles for loss for 26 yards. The Olney, Maryland, native tallied 2.5 sacks against Colby on Sept. 25 and made 17 tackles at Middlebury on Oct. 9, the most tackles for any NESCAC player in a game this season.
Ayyub has been a mainstay on the Mammoths' offensive line for the last two seasons. The Stoneham, Massachusetts, native earned a starting role as a junior in 2019 and was selected as a captain this season. Ayyub has played 22 career games in purple and white.
Kelly earned All-NESCAC honors for the third straight season, landing on the second team just as he did in 2018 and 2019. A senior captain from Greenlawn, New York, Kelly was in on 51 tackles this season. He led the team with 9.0 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, totals that ranked him in the top 10 in the NESCAC in each category. Kelly made a career-best 15 tackles at Middlebury on Oct. 9.
McGilvray earned his first All-NESCAC nod after a season in which he made 30 tackles. The Bolton, Massachusetts, native had a breakout game at Middlebury on Oct. 9 with 3.0 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.
The conference's Offensive Player of the Year award went to Williams quarterback Bobby Maimaron, while Wesleyan defensive lineman Nick Helbig earned Defensive Player of the Year honors. Bowdoin running back Andre Eden and Middlebury defensive lineman Tomas Kenary shared Rookie of the Year honors and Williams coach Mark Raymond was named Coach of the Year.
Returning to play after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 NESCAC football season, the Mammoths finished their 140th football season with a 5-4 record, the 20th season of 24 under head coach E.J. Mills in which Amherst has posted a winning record.
