ITHACA, N.Y. -- Freshman quarterback Jeff Mathews became the third Cornell player to earn Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors, doing so unanimously, to lead four Big Red student-athletes capturing All-Ivy League accolades. Senior punter Drew Alston was selected to the first team, while classmate Emani Fenton was named a cornerback on the second team. Junior linebacker Zack Imhoff rounded out the All-Ivy selections with an honorable mention nod. The teams were announced on Tuesday afternoon by the league office after voting by the conference's eight member head coaches.

Mathews joins tailbacks Derrick Harmon (1981) and John McNiff (1989) as Cornellians earning the conference's top honor for a rookie after a record-breaking freshman campaign. He took over as the team's starter at halftime of the team's first game, becoming the first Cornell freshman to start a game at quarterback the following week in the home opener against Yale. He established the school record for passing yards by a first-year player in that game (248 yards) and ended his season with a record 1,723 yards and seven touchdowns. Mathews ranked second among true freshman QBs in passing in the Football Championship Subdivision and threw all seven touchdowns with only four interceptions while averaging 193.4 yards per game in Ivy contests. He finished the year ranked third in Ivy League in passing yardage and sixth in total offense. The two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week passed for 200 yards or better three times, including tossing for 243 yards and a pair of scores vs. Princeton in the team's lone only Ivy win of the year. Mathews also found the end zone twice rushing the ball.

Alston, an honorable mention pick as a junior, led the Ivy League in net punting average (34.8 yards), punts downed inside the 20 (26), punts (81) and punting yard (3,034). His 26 punts downed inside the 20 was 10 better than the second-place punter. He punted 28 times more than the next-busiest punter in the Ancient Eight, yet his 81 punts only yielded 137 return yards (1.7 per punt). Alston had at least three punts downed inside the 20 in seven different games and was named Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week once during the year.

Fenton had an outstanding senior year, ranking first in the Ivy League and 17th in the NCAA in interceptions (5) and second in passes defended (12). All five interceptions came in Ivy League contests, including two picks vs. Yale. The three-year starter was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week once during the season, when his breakup of a two-point conversion and interception in the end zone in the final minute sealed Cornell's win over Princeton. Fenton  finished eighth on the team in tackles (33) and added a tackle for loss and a blocked punt in 2010.

Imhoff finished his junior year atop the team's tackles list (83), good for fifth in the Ivy League. The first-year starter also led team in sacks (3.0) and was second in tackles for loss (5.0). Imhoff added a forced fumble and two pass breakups while recording four double figure tackle games. He notched a career-best 13 tackles vs. Dartmouth and also had 12 at Brown. Imhoff's top game may have come against Harvard, when he posted nine tackles, including a sack and a forced fumble.