Eight Bears Earn Preseason Honors
7/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 23, 2006
Eight Baylor football players have received preseason All-America, All-Big 12 or All-Texas recognition from nine different 2006 college football preview magazines which have hit the newsstands over the last month. Four seniors, defensive end Marcus Foreman, punter Daniel Sepulveda, cornerback C.J. Wilson and wide receiver Dominique Zeigler, garnered preseason All-America honors from at least one source.
Foreman, Baylor's top returning tackler from 2005 with 58 stops (22 solos), returns for his second season as one of the Bears' starting defensive ends. He was one of six Baylor defenders to start every game in 2005 and ranked No. 3 among Big 12 defensive linemen with 5.3 tackles per game en route to honorable mention All-Big 12 honors from both the league's coaches and The Associated Press.
Sepulveda, a two-time All-America selection, owns a 44.85 career punting average, which ranks as the best in school history, second-best among all active Division I-A punters and ninth-best in NCAA history for players with 150 to 249 career punts. He ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 and No. 3 nationally as a junior in 2005 with his 46.18 average. Sepulveda, who is recovering from off-season knee surgery and remains on track to be available for the Bears' Sept. 3 opener against TCU, may threaten former Texas A&M punter Shane Lechler's NCAA career record average (250 or more punts) of 44.7 yards from 1996-99.
Wilson, who earned 2005 first-team All-Big 12 honors from six media outlets, recorded 45 tackles (33 solos) as a junior to rank seventh on the squad. He recorded a team-high five interceptions and had five pass breakups to rank No. 3 on the team. Wilson also shared the 2005 Big 12 lead and ranked T-No. 9 nationally with five interceptions on the season and needs just five picks in his final season as a Bear to crack the school's all-time list.
Zeigler may well threaten nearly every Baylor career receiving in his final season, as he stands No. 5 on its all-time reception list (112), T-No. 9 in touchdown grabs (10) and No. 11 in receiving yards (1,182). He needs 72 receptions and 10 touchdown grabs to surpass those school marks, but would need nearly 1,500 yards to break that record. As a junior in 2005, Zeigler posted team-leading marks of 48 receptions, 563 receiving yards and five touchdown receptions en route to second-team All-Big 12 honors from the league's coaches.
As a team, the 2006 Bears were picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 South Division by one publication (Huskers IllustratedBlue Ribbon, Athlon, The Sporting News, Street & Smith's and Texas Football), sixth by three publications (Phil Steele, Lindy's, CBS Sportsline.com) and the Big 12 media.
Baylor's individual 2006 preseason honorees include:
Anthony Arline, CB
First-Team All-Texas--Texas Football
Will Blaylock, OG
Second-Team All-Texas--Texas Football
Third-Team All-Big 12--Phil Steele
Marcus Foreman, DE
Preseason Honorable Mention All-American--Street & Smith's
Second-Team All-Texas--Texas Football
Maurice Linguist, OS
Third-Team All-Big 12--Phil Steele
CBS Sportsline.com's All-Decade Team--First Team (only active player selected)
Nation's No. 1 Punter--The Sporting News
Preseason First-Team All-American--Blue Ribbon, Lindy's, Phil Steele, The Sporting News, CBS Sportsline.com, Street & Smith's
Football Writers Association of America Preseason All-America Checklist
First-Team All-Big 12--Phil Steele, Blue Ribbon, Huskers Illustrated, The Sporting News, CBS Sportsline.com, Street & Smith's, Big 12 Media
First-Team All-Texas--Texas Football
C.J. Wilson, CB
Nation's 11th-best cornerback--Lindy's
Nation's 12th-best cornerback--The Sporting News
Preseason Honorable Mention All-American--Street & Smith's
Football Writers Association of America Preseason All-America Checklist
Big 12's Fastest Defensive Back--The Sporting News
Big 12's Best Coverman--Lindy's
First-Team All-Big 12--Blue Ribbon, Lindy's
Second-Team All-Big 12--Huskers Illustrated, The Sporting News
Third-Team All-Big 12--Athlon
Fourth-Team All-Big 12--Phil Steele
Second-Team All-Texas--Texas Football
Preseason Honorable Mention All-American--Street & Smith's
Football Writers Association of America Preseason All-America Checklist
Second-Team All-Big 12--Huskers Illustrated
Third-Team All-Big 12--Phil Steele, Athlon
Notes: The Bears report for fall camp Aug. 2 and the 105-man roster will hit the field for the first time Aug. 3 at 6:30 p.m. in preparation for the Sept. 3 season-opener against TCU in Waco ... Unlike Guy Morriss' first three seasons, Baylor will not hold any two-a-day workouts during next month's fall camp, instead opting for one daily workout ... A complete fall camp practice schedule will be released later this week ... Baylor's annual Meet the Bears Day has been set for Saturday, Aug. 19 ... Morriss, along with student-athletes Shawn Bell, Daniel Sepulveda and C.J. Wilson will represent Baylor at the Big 12's 2006 Media Day, July 24, in Kansas City, Mo. ... Kickoff for Baylor's Sept. 16 game against Washington State at Qwest Field in Seattle has been set for 2 p.m. (Pacific) with no television opportunities at this time ... Former Baylor fullback Jonathan Evans has signed a free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers ... In addition to Evans, 15 other former Bears are listed on 2006 NFL preseason rosters--LB Colin Allred (Tennessee Titans), FS Willie Andrews (New England Patriots), CB Gary Baxter (Cleveland Browns), PK Matt Bryant (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), OG Derrick Fletcher (Jacksonville Jaguars), OG Kelvin Garmon (Oakland Raiders), OG Greg Jerman (Buffalo Bills), DT Ethan Kelley (Cleveland Browns), DE Khari Long (Chicago Bears), OT Fred Miller (Chicago Bears), DE Montez Murphy (Green Bay Packers), WR Reggie Newhouse (New York Jets), TE Justin Snow (Indianapolis Colts), WR Derrius Thompson (New Orleans Saints) and OT Chris Watton (Houston Texans).
