Eagle Staff Report
Texas A&M running back Christine Michael was named the Big 12's offensive freshman of the year by the league's football coaches Tuesday, and junior defensive lineman Von Miller, the nation's sack leader, earned first-team all-league honors.
Junior quarterback Jerrod Johnson, senior tight end Jamie McCoy (selected as a fullback), senior offensive tackle Lee Grimes and sophomore strong safety Trent Hunter were on the second team.
Michael, who rushed for 767 yards and nine touchdowns on 151 carries (5.1), is the first Aggie to win a Big 12 freshman of the year award. Miller, who plays defensive end and linebacker, has 17 sacks, three short of the school record held by Jacob Green. Miller has a team-high four fumble recoveries and five pass breakups.
Johnson is 267-of-439 passing for 3,217 yards with 28 touchdowns and six interceptions. His yardage and touchdowns are school records. He also has 455 yards rushing on 131 carries and eight touchdowns.
McCoy has carried the ball 11 times for 80 yards, getting tackled behind the line only once. Grimes anchors a line that averages a league-leading 465.3 yards per game. Hunter leads the team with 87 tackles.
Aggies earning honorable mention were punter Ryan Epperson, wide receiver Jeff Fuller, running back Cyrus Gray, linebacker Michael Hodges, offensive lineman Patrick Lewis, offensive lineman Kevin Matthews, wide receiver Uzoma Nwachukwu, defensive back Jordan Pugh, wide receiver Ryan Tannehill and linebacker Garrick Williams.
A&M is 6-6, including a 3-5 league record for fifth place in the South Division. A&M has one more game left and is expected to play in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., or the Texas Bowl in Houston.
"Now, we have to continue to get better," A&M head coach Mike Sherman said. "We have an opportunity to play in a bowl game and this preparation time is a great opportunity for our entire team to improve."
A&M had four players cited last year by the league's coaches -- senior punter Justin Brantley was on the first team, senior fullback Jorvorskie Lane was on the second team. Fuller and Hunter earned honorable mention.
Notice about comments:
Theeagle.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. theeagle.com cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not theeagle.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here.
Aggiesports.com is proud to offer our users enhanced commenting features. You can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends’ recent posts, add an avatar that fits your personality and more. If you have posted here before you’ll need to sign up again, and if you’ve never posted start now by signing up! If you've already registered for the new comments on www.theeagle.com then just use your Eagle username to log in and start commenting.
