Malachi Lawrence Headlines Trio of Knights on All-Big 12 Teams

Three UCF players were chosen for the All-Big 12 teams with senior edge rusher Malachi Lawrence being the lone Knight chosen for the first team.

Redshirt senior kicker Noe Ruelas and senior linebacker Cole Kozlowski were named to the third team.

Lawrence, a four-year UCF player, totaled a career-high 28 tackles while adding seven sacks and forcing two fumbles. Lawrence proved to be a bright spot of consistency, shining even in UCF's losses.

In UCF's 30-3 loss against Baylor, Lawrence came ready, totaling seven tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble in an impressive solo effort. One week before that, Lawrence had another two-sack game against West Virginia. 

Lawrence accumulated 20 sacks during his time at UCF.

Ruelas made the most of his lone season as a Knight, finishing 15-17 in field goal attempts while converting 32 of his 33 extra point opportunities.

Ruelas also converted three of four attempts from 50-plus yards, matching his total makes from that distance in his previous three seasons at James Madison and Connecticut combined. 

For Ruelas' impressive season, he was named a Lou Groza Award semifinalist. This award is given to the top placekicker in the country.

Kozlowski also made an impressive impact in his lone season in the power five. Kozlowski, previously a three-year player at Colgate, was a consistent and vocal leader on the defensive side of the ball. 

Throughout the year, he spoke on the importance of having good communication and taking that responsibility upon himself. Kozlowski racked up 82 total tackles on the season, including two sacks and three pass deflections. 

The senior linebacker totaled three double-digit tackle games throughout the year against Baylor, BYU and an 11-tackle, one-sack performance against the Mountaineers.

These three players will be leaving a massive hole behind when they graduate, but UCF has young talent that will hope to fill the voids.