College football, What a great thing
By Justin “The nuT” Boroski
IV Leader Sports Writer
Finally, the long and dragging baseball season is over.
Now, let’s talk about something that is far more exciting than the White Sox
winning the World Series, and that is college football.
Yes, college football is for the glory, pride and thrill of
the game. Where rivalries begin anew every year and last a lifetime. From the
World’s Largest Cocktail Party to the Red River Shootout there truly is
something about college football that puts me into a total obsession in the
fall, to the point where I’ll buy my Athlon Sports magazine and study it more
than my school books (no offense to all of my teachers).
One thing I particularly find enticing is the midseason
All-American teams. Yes, I know midseason is over and the teams came out a
little less than a month ago, but I just couldn’t resist putting this in. This
way, for the people who aren’t as obsessed as myself, this is a chance for them
to catch up on who is doing the best out there on the gridiron.
First, I’ll begin with the offense where we have junior
quarterback Vince Young from Texas leading the Heisman Trophy race and
All-American ballot over the returning Heisman Trophy winner USC quarterback
Matt Leinart. Most of the time you don’t want to define a team with one player
but this guy is undeniably Mr. Texas.
The running back category is led by two stellar athletes in
junior Reggie Bush from USC and senior DeAngelo Williams from Memphis. Bush
averages 8.5 yards per carry and has 972 all-purpose yards, while Williams is
the nation’s leading rusher and has three consecutive games with 200-plus yards.
At wide receiver, there are two relatively unknowns from
Oregon State and Notre Dame in senior Mike Hass (166.2 yards per game) and
junior Jeff Samardzija (8 TDs). Senior Garrett Mills out of Tulsa is the
nation’s most prolific pass-catching tight end with 595 yards.
Five linemen who pave the way for some the best athletes in
the nation are senior Max Jean-Gilles out of Georgia, who passed the NFL to come
back and lead the way for quarterback D.J. Shockley and a 7-2 Bulldog start.
Senior Taitusi Lutui from USC leads one of the nation’s most powerful lines and
protects Leinart. Senior Chris Morris out of Michigan State is the nation’s No.
1 center. The Wisconsin Badgers leader on the line is senior Joe Thomas, who has
not allowed quarterback John Stocco to be sacked all year.
And finally, on the offensive front, the man who protects Mr.
Texas and allows him to scramble and pass freely is senior Jonathan Scott, who
has been a starter at Texas since he walked on the field four years earlier.
Now, on the defensive side of the ball are four undeniable
vote-getters. Senior Elvis Dumervil out of Louisville leads the nation with 15
sacks in only seven games; he averages two sacks a game.
Over on the east coast at Penn State, senior Tamba Hali at
defensive tackle is a dominant athlete who sealed a win over Ohio State by
sacking and forcing a fumble on Buckeye quarterback Troy Smith.
In the south east lies a virtually unstoppable pass rusher
who can part the Red Sea for the Georgia Bulldogs. Junior Quentin Moses has five
sacks and 15 quarterback hurries as the heir apparent to first-round draft pick
David Pollack. And in the deep south of Texas there isn’t just Mr. Texas leading
the way for the Longhorns. The nation’s fifth-ranked defense is led by senior
Aaron Harris, who leads the team with 47 tackles.
The best set of linebackers in the nation is led by a man
with an ideal name for a linebacker in A.J. Hawk, a senior from Ohio State who
has amassed 49 tackles with eight tackles for loss of yards.
Another top linebacker from the Big Ten is junior Paul
Posluzny out of Penn State, who has a whopping 71 tackles in seven games.
The third and final linebacker is the emotional and physical
leader of the defense for the Crimson Tide of Alabama, senior Demeco Ryans, who
leads the way for the sixth-ranked defense in the nation.
Finally four defensive backs that deserve all the credit they
get are senior Dion Byrum out of Ohio, who had returned two interceptions and a
fumble for touchdowns. Junior Daymeion Hughes from California leads the nation
with 141 yards on four interception returns and Brandon Merriweather, a junior
from Miami, is a forced to be reckoned with, while the senior Jimmy Williams
from Virginia Tech, a lock down cover corner, leads the No. 2 defense in the
nation.
Well there it is men (and maybe some women) the midseason
All-American college football team. I hope that this wasn’t too much for you,
but hey, if you love your college football as much as I do (Jason Tidaback)
you’ll be sitting down reading this article word-for-word.