Football Posts Four to Phil Steele All-AAC Team
Dec 17, 2015 | Football
CLEVELAND – Postseason accolades continue to come in for Tulane's football team, as four members of the 2015 Green Wave squad were named to Phil Steele's All-American Athletic Conference (AAC) Team in junior linebacker Nico Marley (First Team), junior defensive tackle Tanzel Smart (First Team), senior defensive end Royce LaFrance (Third team) and junior offensive guard Chris Taylor (Third Team).
Earlier this month, Smart and Marley picked up first-team honors from The American. The Phil Steele honors are the first for LaFrance and Taylor this offseason.
Marley, a native of Weston, Florida, started all 12 games at weak-side linebacker. The junior paced the Green Wave in total tackles with 82 (62 solo, 20 assists) while ranking third on the squad with 13.0 tackles for loss. Marley forced one fumble, picked off one pass and recorded a sack during the 2015 campaign.
In The American, Marley ranked 13th in tackles per game (6.8) while also ranking eighth in tackles for loss per game (1.12). Marley also ranked 51st in the NCAA in solo tackles per game (5.2).
During the season-opener against Duke on Sept. 3, Marley tallied a career-best 15 stops (13 solo, 2 assists) before recording six solo stops at Georgia Tech on Sept. 12. Marley notched double-digit tackles again with 10 (7 solo, 3 assists) against UConn on Nov. 7. Marley picked off a pass against Houston on Oct. 16 to go along with eight total tackles (6 solo, 2 assists) and 1.5 tackles for loss.
On five occasions across the season, Marley notched five multi-tackle for loss games.
Smart also started all 12 games on the year while racking up 62 total tackles (42 solo, 20 assists) with 15.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. The Baton Rouge native's 15.0 tackles for loss paced the Green Wave on the season.
Smart tied for third in The American this year with 1.25 tackles for loss per game while also ranking 36th in the NCAA in the category. Smart recorded tackles for loss in all but three games on the year, including a career-best 3.0 at Memphis on Oct. 31.
Smart notched a career-best nine tackles (7 solo, 2 assists) as well as 2.0 tackles for loss to go along with a forced fumble at Army on No. 14. The defensive tackle had three other games with seven tackles, including seven at Georgia Tech on Sept. 12 to pair with his first-career fumble recovery.
LaFrance started all 12 games at defensive end as a senior, tallying tallied 43 tackles (31 solo, 12 assists) - including 13.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks – to go along with one forced fumble, and four pass break-ups. The Harvey, Louisiana, native led the team in sacks while ranking second in tackles for loss. In The American, LaFrance ranked sixth in sacks per game (0.54) and seventh in tackles for loss (1.12).
LaFrance posted a career-best 4.0 tackles for loss - including a career-high 3.0 sacks - to go along with a forced fumble against UCF on Oct. 3. He also notched four tackles in four other contests on the year.
Taylor started all 12 games as a junior at right guard for the Green Wave. The Baton Rouge native was instrumental in helping the offense average 317.0 yards per game (201.2 passing, 115.8 rushing). Taylor helped pave the way for 530 total yards (343 passing, 187 rushing) against Tulsa on Nov. 27. He also blocked for a 497-yard effort (205 rushing, 292 passing) against Maine on Sept. 19. Taylor was also on the line during Tulane's 200-yard rushing contest at SMU on Nov. 21.
