UNH's Josiah Silver not only is the CAA Defensive Player of the Year but is also a finalist for the national Buchanan Award. (Courtesy photo by Gil Talbot/UNH Athletics)

DURHAM — Senior defensive end and captain Josiah Silver of the 19th-ranked University of New Hampshire football team was named the CAA Football Defensive Player of the Year to highlight a total 11 postseason awards for the Wildcats.

Even bigger Silver (Hampton, Va.) was named a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award by Stats Perform.

Silver is one of 35 finalists for the award, which is presented annually to the national defensive player of the year in Division I FCS college football. He was named to the Buck Buchanan Watch List when it was first announced in July.

Locally, Milford’s Gavin Urda was named to the Third Team All-CAA for special teams.

New Hampshire (8-4, 6-2 CAA) is the No. 16 seed of the FCS Championship tournament and will play host to 23rd-ranked UT Martin (8-4, 6-2 Big South-OVC) at Wildcat Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Silver ended the regular season ranked No. 3 in the nation in sacks per game (0.96) and 11th in tackles for loss (1.50); both those numbers rank second in the CAA. He is UNH’s leader in both sacks (11.5) and tackles for loss (17.5), as well as quarterback hurries (four), and he is third in total tackles (58). Silver has also been credited with one forced fumble.

Silver’s season highlights includes five tackles for loss with four sacks Oct. 12 at Elon. Both those numbers matched his personal bests as he finished with seven total tackles and was named CAA Football Defensive Player of the Week.

He recorded two sacks in back-to-back road games against Villanova and UAlbany.Silver recorded a sack in 6 of 12 games and had a tackle for loss in 8 of 12. The 11.5 sacks ranks third best by a Wildcat in a single season.

The Buck Buchanan Award is named for legendary defensive lineman Junious “Buchanan, who starred at Grambling State.

The winner, as selected by a national voting panel, will be announced at the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Banquet on Jan. 4 in Frisco, Texas.

UNH’s Matt Evans won the Buck Buchanan Award in 2011.

Silver was joined as a First Team All-CAA selection by fellow senior defensive end Flex Ruiz , grad student safety Wande Owens (Cooksville, Md.) and junior placekicker Nick Mazzie (Boxford, Mass.).

The three Wildcats named Second Team All-CAA were grad student linebacker and captain Ryan Toscano of Bedford, grad student wide receiver and captain Logan Tomlinson, and senior quarterback Seth Morgan (Pittsburgh, Pa.).

Three more ‘Cats made Third Team All-CAA – senior offensive lineman and captain Dylan Poirier, senior punter Sean Lehane (Milford, Mass.), and Milford junior cornerback Urda as a special teams selection.

Senior cornerback Noah Stansbury (Orange, N.J.) was named to the Honorable Mention list.

UNH had the second highest combined total of first, second and third team honorees. UNH’s four First Team selections tied for second most.