RICHMOND, Ky. – Five Eastern Kentucky University football players have been named to the inaugural United Athletic Conference Postseason All-Conference teams, as announced by the league office in a press release on Friday afternoon.

The all-conference selections were voted on by all nine head coaches in the UAC, with coaches unable to vote for their own student-athletes.

Four Colonels—quarterback Parker McKinney, tight end Hunter Brown, and offensive linemen Payton Collins and Josiah Ezirim—earned first-team offensive selections.

Linebacker Logan Blake was the sole Colonel from the defense to earn first-team recognition.

Blake made an immediate impact at EKU as a transfer this past season, leading the conference and finishing fourth in all of FCS football this season in total tackles with 132, the most of any Colonel since Teddy McCombs in 1994, who had 146.

The Indiana native also recorded the sixth most tackles for loss in the conference with 10.5 for a total of 30 yards.

McKinney and Brown led the way offensively as unanimous selections, receiving votes from all eight other coaches, making EKU the team with the most unanimous first-team selections across the conference, with only seven overall.

McKinney adds the honor to his long list of accolades as a Colonel following a 2023 campaign that saw the legend record 3,033 yards passing and 20 touchdowns through the air, ending his career with 12,751 passing yards—the 11th most in FCS history—and 94 passing touchdowns, both the most in program history.

Brown earns the selection after his first season as a Colonel, recording 387 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 33 receptions for an average of 11.7 yards per catch. The impressive debut season at EKU saw the Wellsboro, PA native atop the UAC for tight ends in those statistical categories, leading to his unanimous selection as the lone first-team tight end.

Ezirim's selection marks his first all-conference selection as a Colonel after a stellar season up front.

The senior from Hilliard, Ohio started in every game in 2023, helping the Colonels achieve the top offense in the conference with 437.4 yards per game, going for 4,811 total yards on the season with 37 touchdowns and an average of 29.5 points a game.

Fellow lineman and Ohio native Payton Collins earns his third consecutive all-conference honor in his EKU career, starting every game this past season as an anchor on the offensive line, paving the way for the best offense in the UAC.

The depth of the UAC was reflected in the postseason awards as all nine members boasted at least one First Team All-Conference honoree and five different programs collected superlative honors. UAC Champion Austin Peay led the way with 17 selections on the All-Conference lists bolstered by 10 first team accolades. Tarleton State was second with nine selections followed by seven for Central Arkansas. Abilene Christian, EKU and Southern Utah each produced five honorees while Utah Tech (4), North Alabama (3) and Stephen F. Austin (2) rounded out the selections.