SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Myke Tavarres (Lake Oswego, OR/Lakeridge HS) was named the University of the Incarnate Word 2015-16 Male Athlete of the Year on Wednesday.
Tavarres, a senior transfer from the University of Arkansas, made the most of his one year in a Cardinals uniform. The outside linebacker rewrote the UIW football record books while leading the team to a 6-5 record and a fourth place finish in the Southland Conference. He signed with the Eagles as an undrafted free agent following the NFL Draft.
Tavarres was a dominant player on the defensive side of the ball for the Cardinals. He set single season school records for tackles (110), tackles for loss (22.5) and sacks (8.5). He also set the school marks for yards lost on tackles for loss and sacks. He set a single game school record with 17 tackles at Sam Houston State and he tied the single game school record with 3.0 sacks in the same game.
He was named to a trio of All-America teams during the year. He earned STATS FCS and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) FCS first team honors and Associated Press FCS second team honors. He was on the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) FCS Linebacker of the Year Award Watch List and the STATS FCS Defensive Player of the Year Watch List. He was the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year and earned first team all-conference honors. He was the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week and the College Sports Madness (CSM) Southland Defensive Player of the Week on October 5. He finished fourth in the nation in tackles for loss per game.
Tavarres was eligible for the UIW Male Athlete of the Year Award because he was the UIW Male Athlete of the Week once during the year. He won a close vote over basketball player Kyle Hittle (New Braunfels/New Braunfels HS), 42-40. Coming in third place was swimmer David Moore (San Antonio/Churchill HS) with 15 points. Sarea Alexander was named the UIW Female Athlete of the Year last week and the UIW Student-Athlete of the Year award will be released on June 22.
