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Top Running Backs,
All-Americans Among 19 Senior Bowlers In Action In Monday's Bowls
Outstanding group includes premier ball
carriers Tashard Choice of Georgia Tech and Cal’s Justin Forsett, Ray
Guy Award winner Durant Brooks of Georgia Tech and All-American
defensive back Mike Jenkins of South Florida.
MOBILE, Ala. (December
31, 2007) --
Two of the nation’s most productive running backs – Georgia Tech’s
Tashard Choice and California’s Justin Forsett, the 2007 Ray Guy Award
winner and an All-American defensive back are among the 18 2008 Under
Armour Senior Bowl players who will be in action in Monday’s six bowl
games.
One of the most prolific backs in school
history, Choice led the ACC in rushing in 2007 with 1,310 yards and ten
touchdowns to earn consensus first-team All-ACC honors.
Georgia Tech running back
Tashard Choice |
California running back
Justin Forsett |
A 6-1, 211-pounder from Riverdale, Ga., he
established new school records for career 100-yard rushing games with
18, and his 1,473 rushing yards in 2006 is the second-highest single
season total ever at the school.
Joining Choice, whose Yellow Jackets will
take on Fresno State in the Humanitarian Bowl, will be three of his
Yellow Jackets teammates – punter Durant Brooks, defensive end Darrell
Roberston and linebacker Philip Wheeler.
A consensus first-team All-American,
Brooks holds the highest career punting average in ACC history with
45.53. The 6-0, 198-pounder from Macon, Ga., won the 2007 Ray Guy Award,
presented annually to the best punter in college football.
Robertson is a 6-5, 252-pound second-team
All-ACC pick from Jonesboro, Ga., who leads the team in both tackles for
loss with 16 and sacks with 6.5.
Georgia Tech punter
Durant Brooks |
Georgia Tech defensive end
Darrell Robertson |
Wheeler was also a second-team All-ACC
pick, as the 6-2, 238-pounder from Columbus, Ga., leads the team with 78
tackles, and ranks seventh in school history with 19 career sacks.
Forsett led the Pac10 with 13 rushing
touchdowns in 2006, and finished second in the conference with 1,406
rushing yards (117.2 per game) which earned him first-team All-Pac-10
honors this season.
The 5-8, 196-pounder from Arlington,
Texas, became the fifth running back in school history to rush for over
3,000 yards, and currently ranks fourth with 3,080, and his 2007 yardage
total is third all-time in school history.
Forsett, whose Cal Bears take on Air Force
in the Armed Forces Bowl, will be joined in the Senior Bowl by wide
receiver Lavelle Hawkins, a second-team All-Pac-10 pick who led the
Bears with 69 catches for 855 yards in 2007, and defensive back Thomas
DeCoud, the team’s Defensive MVP who leads the squad with 116 tackles
this season.
Georgia Tech linebacker
Philip Wheeler |
California wide receiver
Lavelle Hawkins |
Two players who had integral roles in the
greatest season in South Florida history are also headed to Mobile.
The Bulls, who take on Oregon in the Sun
Bowl, feature a pair of outstanding defensive players in first-team
All-American cornerback Mike Jenkins and All-Big East linebacker Ben
Moffitt.
One of the nation’s premier cornerbacks,
Jenkins was a first-team AFCA All-American selection and Thorpe Award
semifinalist who also rates as one of the top players at his position in
the upcoming NFL Draft.
The 6-0, 197-pound first-team All-Big East
selection from Bradenton, Fla., recorded 38 tackles, three interceptions
and 13 pass break-ups in 2007, and has recorded 42 PBU’s during his
career.
South Florida All-American cornerback
Mike Jenkins |
South Florida All-Big East linebacker
Ben Moffitt |
Moffitt was a first-team All-Big East pick
who has recorded 100 tackles, including 12 for loss, and four
interceptions during a stellar senior campaign.
A 6-2, 245-pounder from Bushnell, Fla., he
had many of his best performances in his team’s biggest games including
ten tackle efforts against Rutgers and Pittsburgh and was named National
Defensive Player of the Week after intercepting two passes, including
one for TD, making nine tackles and a pass breakup against West
Virginia.
The Music City Bowl will feature six 2008
Senior Bowlers. In addition to an outstanding quintet from Kentucky that
includes the SEC’s leading passer in quarterback Andre Woodson, Florida
State will be represented by 6-4, 280-pound defensive tackle Andre
Fluellen, who has recorded 17.5 tackles for loss during his career.
Florida State defensive tackle
Andre Fluellen |
Indiana All-Big Ten cornerback
Tracy Porter |
Two more Senior Bowlers will take the
field in the Insight Bowl, as first-team All-Big Ten cornerback Tracy
Porter, a 5-11, 186-pounder from Port Allen, La., who led the team and
ranked second in the Big Ten with six interceptions this season, will go
against one of the nation’s premier pass receivers and big play threats
in Oklahoma State’s Adarius Bowman.
A second-team All-Big 12 pick in 2007 and
a first-team selection a year ago, Bowman has caught 61 for 932 yards in
2007 despite missing three full games due to injury. In 2006, he set a
Big 12 record with a 300-yard receiving game against Kansas, and his
17.6 career yards per catch average is second among all active NCAA
players.
Previously, it was announced that a pair
of Auburn Tigers, who take on Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Bowl will play
in this year’s Senior Bowl – defensive end Quentin Groves and defensive
back Patrick Lee.
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Oklahoma State wide receiver
Adarius Bowman
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California defensive back
Thomas DeCoud |
The 59th annual Under Armour Senior Bowl
is scheduled for Saturday, January 26, 2008. Tickets sell for $24, $18
and $12 each and can be purchased at all area Food World stores,
selected Regions Bank branches, by calling 251-432-4109 or ordered
through the bowl’s website at
www.seniorbowl.com.
2008 Under Armour Senior Bowlers In
Action In Monday’s Bowls:
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Auburn –
Quentin Groves, DL; Patrick Lee, DB
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California –
Justin Forsett, RB; Lavelle Hawkins, WR; Thomas DeCoud, DB
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Florida State –
Andre Fluellen, DL
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Georgia Tech –
Durant Brooks, P; Tashard Choice, RB; Darrell Robertson, DL; Phillip
Wheeler, LB
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Indiana – Tracy
Porter, DB
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Kentucky –
Andre Woodson, QB; Keenan Burton, WR; Rafael Little, RB; Jacob Tamme,
TE; Wesley Woodyard, LB
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Oklahoma State
– Adarius Bowman, WR
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South Florida –
Mike Jenkins, DB; Ben Moffitt, LB
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