Press Release: University of Missouri
To the victors go the spoils, and the spoils are definitely rolling in for the Missouri Tiger football team, as eight players from the No. 1-ranked team in the nation have been named first-team All-Big 12 by the Associated Press. The team, voted on by 20 scribes who cover the league on a regular basis, features 17 Tigers in all receiving honors, and the eight first-teamers is an MU record – Mizzou had eight first-team selections combined in the last five seasons alone (from 2002-2006), and only 18 total in the previous 11 years of Big 12 play (1996-2006).
Additionally, as announced earlier this week, junior QB Chase Daniel was a unanimous pick as the league’s offensive player of the year, and Head Coach Gary Pinkel was named as the co-coach of the year.
The record number of first-team selections includes Chase Daniel (QB), Jeremy Maclin (All-Purpose), Martin Rucker (TE), Adam Spieker (OL) and Jeff Wolfert (PK) on offense, and William Moore (FS), Sean Weatherspoon (LB) and Lorenzo Williams (DT) on defense.
Four Tigers were named to the league’s 2nd-Team, including Chase Coffman (TE) and Tyler Luellen (OL) on offense, and Pig Brown (SS) and Stryker Sulak (DE) on defense. Five more Tigers earned honorable mention status by league media, including Colin Brown (OL) and Kurtis Gregory (OL) on offense, and Tommy Chavis (DE), Brock Christopher (LB) and Ziggy Hood (OL) on defense.
