Bull Run All Decade Team: Defensive Line

As the Decade comes to a close it’s time to step back and take a look at the players who made this, on the whole, a very fun decade for UB sports fans

The Editors have picked the first and second team members, you the Bull Run community can name your choice for honorable mention in the comments below.

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The Defensive line was the postilion group with the greatest number of different players receiving votes. Only two first team players were unanimous picks, every other player was left off of at least one ballot.

First Team

Steven Means played from 2009 to 2012, and he led the Bulls in sacks the first two years of his career, tying with Khalil Mack in 2010. Before his career was over he was fourth all time in sacks and ninth all time in tackles for loss. He’s still top ten in both categories.

Means didn’t get a lot of recognition from the conference, just one second team nod, but he did get drafted in the 2013 draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s been with five NFL teams, making the game day roster on four of them.

Taylor Riggans is still on the active roster, he transferred from UMass and had to miss his freshman year but exploded on the scene in 2018. As a depth lineman he played in all 14 games and ranked second on the team with five sacks. This past season his 8.5 sacks is tied for 12th for the school single season sack mark.

Chuck Harris After spending two years as a reserve back Harris finished second on the team in sacks in 2017, and was named third team all conference. He was also selected first team all conference in 2018 after leading UB in sacks.

He spent time in camp at Chicago after the season and is now with Jacksonville.

Kristjan Sokoli played offensive line in High School, played offensive line in the NFL... In between that he was a defensive lineman for the Buffalo Bulls. He finished his career at UB and was then drafted by the Seahawks in the 2015 draft.

Second Team

Ledarius Mack was just behind Sokoli for points on the ballots, there was a slight amount of Drama when UB didn’t quickly snatch him up, given that he was a solid JUCO player and the brother of Khalil Mack.

Buffalo’s coaches quickly saw their error, offered Ledarius and in just two seasons of work Mack proved that it would have been a huge mistake to let him slip through UB’s fingers.

In a shortened UB career Mack piled up nine sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss while being a pass rush specialist. His senior season concluded with a “walk off sack” (can I call it that) in UB’s first Bowl win.

Malcolm Koonce was part of a 2019 UB defensive line that was among the best in the nation when it came to getting to the quarterback. He piled up 8 sacks and 11 tackles for a loss, and made first team all conference.

Chibueze Onwuka A former Niagara Community college wrestler who walked onto the team, and became a force in opposing backfields. He was named all MAC third team in 2019.

Colby Way after playing his way into the starting lineup as a sophomore and before it was all said and done he finished with 15 career sacks. That number is still 9th all time for Buffalo.

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There were a lot of players who got a second team nod on a ballot but not enough to make the cut. It will be interesting to see if any of them get honorable mention in the comment section.