PHILADELPHIA – Headlining the University of Pennsylvania football team's postseason award haul, freshman running back Malachi Hosley is the program's first Ivy League Rookie of the Year award winner in 30 years as the Quakers garnered 13 All-Ivy selections when the league office announced its end-of-season honors on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Following a spectacular 2023 campaign, Hosley becomes the sixth Penn player to earn the Ancient Eight's top freshman honor and the first since wide receiver Miles Macik received the award in 1993.
 
Five Quakers were named to the first team and four placed on the second team—the most since 2017—while an additional four took home honorable mention nods.
 
In addition, senior defensive lineman Joey Slackman was Penn's representative on the Academic All-Ivy team for the 2023 season.
 
Ivy League Rookie of the Year
Malachi Hosley (RB)
 
First Team All-Ivy
Jake Ligos (OL)
Malachi Hosley (RB)
Jared Richardson (WR)
Joey Slackman (DL)*
Shiloh Means (DB)
 
Second Team All-Ivy
Jack Purcell (OL)
Micah Morris (DL)
Jack Fairman (LB)
Kendren Smith (DB)
 
Honorable Mention All-Ivy
Aidan Sayin (QB)
Bryce Myers (TE)
Paul Jennings (DL)
Graham Gotlieb (K)

*Academic All-Ivy selection
 
All-Ivy Notes

• Hosley is the second straight running back to be named Ivy Rookie of the Year (Yale's Joshua Pitsenberger in 2022) and the fourth this decade. He's also the fourth halfback in Penn football history to earn the honor and first since Bryan Keys in 1987.
• Penn has reached double-digit All-Ivy selections for the second consecutive season, after tallying 16 in 2022. The 29 honorees are the most in a two-year span since 2010-11 (29).
• Morris cracked the second team for the first time in his career, concluding his tenure as a three-time All-Ivy honoree.
• Gotlieb is the first Penn kicker to earn All-Ivy honors since Jack Soslow in 2018.

 
About Penn's 2023 All-Ivy selections…
 
OL Jake Ligos (1st)
It was an exciting thing when Ligos announced he was returning for one more season as a mainstay on the Quakers' offensive line. He enjoyed another special season protecting quarterback Aidan Sayin. Ligos started all 10 games, helping the offense average 286.1 yards per game (second in Ivy, eighth in NCAA FCS), while allowing just 1.2 sacks per game. He helped block for rookie running back Hosley, who totaled north of 700 rushing yards and seven TDs.
 
RB Malachi Hosley (ROTY, 1st)
There's not much that can be said that hasn't already been said about the kind of season Hosley had this year for the Red and Blue. Special is an understatement, as he ran wild for 723 yards on 121 carries and seven touchdowns, ranked second and third in the Ivy League, respectively. Hosley was named Rookie of the Week a program-record five times in 2023, also garnering Offensive Player of the Week honors once. His marquee performance of the year came in a 23-8 victory over Cornell on Homecoming, totaling 261 yards rushing—the third-most in program history and the most by a freshman back—with two touchdowns on 21 carries. One of those TDs went for 96 yards, the longest offensive play in program history. In addition to his work on the ground, Hosley also caught 22 passes for 246 yards and a TD, totaling 969 all-purpose yards in his first season. He had three straight 100+ yard games to end the season and was named a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, given to the National Freshman of the Year in FCS football.
 
WR Jared Richardson (1st)
If we told you going into this season, Richardson had never caught a pass in his football career before and was going to be named a first-team All-Ivy wide receiver, you would have called us crazy. That's exactly what he did after a breakout sophomore season as WR1 in Dan Swanstrom's offense. Richardson totaled 67 catches (2nd in Ivy) for 788 yards (2nd in Ivy, 31st in NCAA FCS) and eight touchdowns (2nd in Ivy, 12th in FCS), tallying four 100+ receiving games along with three outings above 130 yards. He averaged 7.4 receptions per game (1st in Ivy, 4th in FCS) and 87.6 receiving yards per game (1st in Ivy, 12th in FCS). His career game came on the road at Yale where he caught a single-game program record 17 passes for 191 yards and a TD. In the season finale vs. Princeton, Richardson recorded a career-high three TDs on six catches for 138 yards. He was named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week twice (9/25, 10/23).
 
DL Joey Slackman (1st)
Slackman was a force to be reckoned with for Ivy offenses this season, solidifying himself as one of the most formidable players in the Ancient Eight. He started nine games for the Quakers, leading the defense with 12.0 tackles for loss (ranked second in the Ivy League) and four sacks. In addition, Slackman tallied four hurries, a PBU and a blocked field goal. He finished with 50 total tackles (4th on team) with 23 solo stops. This is his second-career All-Ivy honor.
 
DB Shiloh Means (1st)
It seemed wherever the ball was, Means was right there to defend it. The senior safety finished up a strong senior campaign for the Quakers in 2023, starting all 10 games as a key leader. He totaled 44 tackles with 21 solo stops, finishing with a team-leading three interceptions, which was tied for third in the Ivy League. Means had a pick in back-to-back games vs. Georgetown (10/7) and at Columbia (10/14), both proving to be victories. He defended a total of 10 passes (tied for second among Ivy defenders) with seven PBUs. Means earns All-Ivy honors for a second straight year.
 
OL Jack Purcell (2nd)
Purcell was the second piece of a Penn offensive line that was welcomed back with open arms following the end of the 2022 campaign. Like Ligos, he also started all 10 games on the O-line, aiding Aidan Sayin and a Penn offense that averaged 286.1 yards per game (ranked 2nd in Ivy and eighth in FCS). With Purcell's help, the offensive line allowed just 1.2 sacks per game (2nd in Ivy, 18th in FCS) while blocking for the Penn rushing attack and freshman Hosley, who totaled 121 carries for 723 yards and seven TDs.
 
DL Micah Morris (2nd)
Morris didn't have flashy numbers like his trench counterpart Slackman, but still made his presence felt throughout the season. Now a three-time All-Ivy selection, Morris started and played all 10 games, never missing a game in four years for the Quakers, playing all 40 games during that span. He totaled 20 tackles with two TFLs and a sack, registering a season-high four stops vs. Brown on October 27.
 
LB Jack Fairman (2nd)
Fairman's 2023 season was special after putting together a stretch of two tremendous years in a row. He led the Quakers in total tackles (73) on 35 solos with an average of 7.3 tackles per game (8th in Ivy). Starting all 10 games at linebacker, Fairman also had 6.5 TFLs, 1.5 sacks, three PBUs and three hurries. He totaled double-digit tackles twice with 10 at Yale and 10 against Cornell. Fairman's lone sack lost 13 yards in a victory at Bucknell in the second game of the season.
 
DB Kendren Smith (2nd)
Smith is on the All-Ivy list for a second straight season and if there's one word that describes this player, it's got to be "consistency." Smith was consistently on his game in all 10 starts this year, especially as one of the co-captains of the roster. He finished with 58 total tackles, the second-most on the team with a team-leading eight pass breakups. He also finished with two TFLs, a sack and two QB hurries.
 
QB Aidan Sayin (HM)
There are so many talented quarterbacks in the Ancient Eight and Sayin continues to prove that he's up there with the best of them. An honorable-mention honoree for a second straight year, he finished with a career-high 2,805 passing yards (2nd in Ivy), 278 completions (2nd in Ivy) and 16 TDs (3rd in Ivy). His 64.7% completion percentage was the second-best among Ivy QBs and averaged 279.1 yards per game (2nd in Ivy, 5th in FCS). He ranked third among all FCS signal-callers in completions per game (27.6). Sayin concluded the 2023 season with five games of over 300 yards and four 350+ yard games, the first Quaker in program history to record four such games in a single season. He recorded a pair of back-to-back 300-yard games twice (Bucknell and Dartmouth; Yale and Brown). Sayin became the third Penn quarterback to reach the 6,000-career passing yard milestone, currently ranking third in all-time career passing yards (6,069), second in pass attempts (983), third in completions (619), fourth in TD passes (39) and fourth in completion percentage (63.0).
 
TE Bryce Myers (HM)
When 2022 starter Justin Cayenne went down with a season-ending injury prior to the start of 2023, it was Myers who stepped up in a big way. He put together a solid campaign for the Quakers, showing his flexibility as both a receiving and blocking tight end. Myers started all 10 games, catching 32 passes (4th on team) for 329 yards (4th on team) and a touchdown. He registered 50+ receiving yards in three games including a 103-yard performance vs. Dartmouth, becoming the first tight end in at least two decades to record north of 100 yards in a game. Myers caught his first-career touchdown at Yale on October 21 with 4:26 left in the fourth quarter, proving to be the game's dagger.
 
DL Paul Jennings (HM)
Jennings stepped up to the plate this season as a full-time starter on the defensive line. He made a start in all 10 games, finishing the year with 40 tackles. He had six TFLs and 2.5 sacks for a loss of 17 yards along with a quarterback hurry. Jennings tallied a season-high eight tackles vs. Brown on October 27 and had six stops vs. Princeton in the season finale.
 
K Graham Gotlieb (HM)
Gotlieb had a strong final season for the Quakers as the starting placekicker, appearing in all 10 games. He went 15-for-18 on field goals, including 27-for-29 on PATs, finishing just one made field goal shy of the single-season program record (16). Gotlieb booted three FGs at Harvard, the first Penn kicker with at least three made kicks since 2021. He kicked a season-long 45-yard field goal vs. Brown on October 27 and converted a career-high 83 percent of his field goals for the year.
 
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