IRVING, Texas — UTSA senior Jimmori Robinson was selected as the 2024 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and is one of eight Roadrunners who were named all-conference, as the league office on Tuesday announced its football postseason honors as voted on by the league’s 14 head coaches.
Robinson also made The American’s first-team defense and his defensive player of the year honor marks the second straight for UTSA after Trey Moore’s selection in 2023. He becomes the eighth player in program history to receive a conference superlative award and the third to be named a conference defensive player of the year along with Moore and Marcus Davenport (2017, Conference USA). It also marks the Roadrunners’ 12th overall conference superlative honor with all but three of those occurring under fifth-year head coach Jeff Traylor.
Zah Frazier joined Robinson on the first-team defense, while tight end Oscar Cardenas and linebacker Martavius French landed spots on the second team. Defensive lineman Brandon Brown was picked for the third team and offensive guard Cory Godinet, linebacker Jamal Ligon and kicker Tate Sandell all earned honorable mention.
An outside linebacker who hails from Alexandria, Virginia, Robinson has totaled 43 tackles, 27 solo stops, 17 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, eight quarterback hurries, two pass breakups, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and a blocked kick this season. He has moved into fourth place on UTSA’s single-season TFLs list, just one behind the program record of 18, and his sacks total currently is tied for second. For his career, he owns 15 sacks and 30 TFLs, good for third and fourth, respectively, in school history.
Robinson was honored as the Walter Camp National FBS Defensive Player of the Week and AAC Defensive Player of the Week after breaking the UTSA single-game record with 5.5 TFLs and tying the sacks mark with four in the 51-27 win over Temple. He leads The American in both categories and currently ranks sixth in the FBS with 1.4 tackles for loss per game and ninth nationally at 0.88 sacks per outing. He has helped the team break the program’s single-season mark for tackles for loss for the second straight year, as the Roadrunners have totaled 104 TFLs through 12 games, eclipsing the previous standard of 99 set in 13 games last fall.
Frazier now owns UTSA’s single-season record and ranks second in the FBS this year with six interceptions, turning in a trio of two-INT games during league play. The junior cornerback from Cedartown, Georgia, picked off a pair of passes against East Carolina and also in back-to-back home victories over North Texas and Temple to break the previous program mark of five. He also has nine pass breakups to give him 15 total passes defended, good for fifth on the school’s single-season chart and currently third in the FBS this fall. Additionally, he has registered 22 tackles, 20 unassisted stops, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble and a quarterback hurry in 2024.
A senior from San Antonio, Cardenas collected his third career all-conference certificate with his second-team nod. He was a third-team pick a year ago in UTSA’s debut campaign in The American while also earning honorable mention All-Conference USA accolades in 2022. The Brandeis High School product caught 13 passes for 141 yards and three touchdowns before suffering a season-ending injury against Tulsa on Oct. 26. He ended his career with 95 receptions for 1,138 yards and nine TDs — all school standards for a tight end — in 65 games played and 40 starts.
French leads the Roadrunners with 77 total tackles and 49 solo stops to go with 14 tackles for loss, four quarterback hurries, three pass breakups and a sack, helping UTSA break the program record for single-season TFLs with 104 through a dozen games. The senior inside linebacker from Memphis, Tennessee, has paced the squad in tackles in seven contests this season, including registering 10 stops and two TFLs en route to AAC Defensive Player of the Week honors following the 44-36 win over No. 25 Memphis. For his three-year career, French has racked up 160 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss, seven PBUs and 2.5 sacks in 36 games.
Brown picked up his fourth career all-conference award with his second straight third-team All-AAC selection after a first-team all-league performance in 2022 in Conference USA. The senior out of Katy Morton Ranch High School has tallied 24 total tackles, 11 solo stops, 6.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and a quarterback hurry. He logged four tackles, 2.5 TFLs and a sack in the win against Florida Atlantic and also recorded a sack in the victory over No. 25 Memphis. In 54 career contests and 46 starts, he has posted 89 tackles, 20.5 TFLs, 4.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and a trio of quarterback hurries.
Godinet and Ligon both picked up honorable mention recognition for the second straight year, while this marked the first career all-conference award for Sandell.
Godinet has started all 12 games and logged over 800 snaps at right guard for a UTSA offense that has piled up 5,351 yards this season, good for an average of 446.0 yards per game. A native of American Samoa, the junior has helped protect for a passing attack that has racked up 3,429 yards (285.8 ypg) and has also helped clear the way for a ground game that has accumulated 2,212 yards (160.3 ypg). According to Pro Football Focus, he has allowed only one sack and four hits on the quarterback in 495 pass-blocking snaps.
Ligon earned his fifth career all-league honor after becoming UTSA’s all-time leading tackler during his final campaign. The Tyler, Texas, native has tallied 44 total tackles in 2024, pushing him into first place on the school’s career chart with 329 in 62 games, including a program-record 57 starts. He has accounted for 26 solo stops, 5.5 tackles for loss, four quarterback hurries, two sacks, two forced fumbles, a pair of pass breakups and one fumble recovery in 12 contests this fall.
Sandell has emerged as the Roadrunners’ primary place-kicker in his third season on campus. Already the kickoff specialist over the past two seasons, the Port Neches-Groves High School product has made 16 of 20 field goals (.800) and 31 extra points in 2024. He has split the uprights from beyond 50 yards twice, including setting a school record with his 54-yard make in the 44-36 win over No. 25 Memphis, which helped earn him AAC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. Sandell has pushed his UTSA-record touchbacks totals to 59 this season and 102 for his career.
With the eight selections this year, UTSA has collected a total of 91 all-conference certificates in the Jeff Traylor era.
The Roadrunners are bowl eligible for the fifth straight year and will find out their postseason destination by Sunday Dec. 8.
