BY GRANT TRAYLOR
Associate Athletic Director of Strategic Communications
HUNTINGTON – Marshall Football’s Jayden Harrison and Eli Neal were named as HERO Group of Five All-Americans on Thursday.
Harrison was named as a First Team selection while Neal was honored as a Second Team selection.
For Harrison, it continues a long line of All-American accolades over the past 10 days.
The redshirt junior from Antioch, Tennessee, native has been named as a First Team return specialist on the FWAA All-America Team, the Walter Camp All-American Team and the CBS Sports / 247Sports All-America Team while also being named as a finalist for the 2023 Jet Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding return specialist.
Harrison led FBS in kickoff return average at 31.9 yards per return. He also had a pair of kickoff returns for touchdown on the season – a 94-yard kickoff return against James Madison on Oct. 19 and a 98-yard kickoff return that opened the game in Marshall’s 38-33 win over Georgia Southern on Nov. 11.
Later Thursday, Harrison was also named to the Sports Info Solutions All-America First Team as a return specialist.
For Neal, the HERO Group Of Five All-American honor is the first All-American selection of his career.
The redshirt senior from Memphis, Tennessee, native led Marshall in tackles with 85 on the season and added 9.5 tackles for loss with 2.0 sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery while serving as one of the vocal leaders for the defense as well.
Neal will be playing in the final game of his Marshall career when the team takes on UTSA in the 2023 Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl, rounding out an impressive tenure that has seen him enter the elite in Marshall history.
Neal has 367 tackles and 31.5 tackles for loss – both of which are in the Top-20 in Marshall history. His 367 tackles currently rank 14th on Marshall’s all-time list while his 31.5 tackles for loss are 18th.
The Herd’s middle linebacker has also started in 47 career games going into the 2023 Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl. Should he start against UTSA, he will move into the Top-15 in Marshall’s All-Time start charts.
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