Dec. 10, 2003

WACO, Texas - Baylor senior running back Rashad Armstrong has accepted an invitation to participate in the 58th Annual Hula Bowl Maui All-Star Classic. The game is played Jan. 17 at War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku on the island of Maui and will be televised live on ESPN. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CST.

Armstrong, a senior running back who transferred to Baylor last season from Mesa [Ariz.] Community College, became Baylor's sixth 1,000-yard rusher and the program's first since 1995. A native of Miami, Fla., Armstrong tallied 1,074 rushing yards on the season with six touchdowns. He ranked fifth in the Big 12 and 40th nationally in rushing yards per game. Armstrong was also valuable as a receiver; he snagged 19 passes for 216 yards and one touchdown on the season.

Against Colorado, Armstrong led the Bears to victory with 166 yards rushing, a career high, and two touchdowns. His rushing total in that game was the 13th-best in school history and the best since 1995. It was one of four 100-yard rushing games for Armstrong, who tied Baylor's record with three consecutive 100-yard games early in the year.

Armstrong is the 35th Bear to play in the Hula Bowl and the first since Tyshaun Whitson in 2001; he is the first Baylor running back to earn a Hula Bowl invitation since Charles Perry in 1988.

Participants are selected by the Hula Bowl Maui All-Star Classic Player Selection Committee, which consists of former NFL coach Tom Bass, former Brigham Young head coach LaVell Edwards, former Iowa head coach and Baylor alumnus Hayden Fry, former Texas Tech head coach Spike Dykes, former Michigan State head coach George Perles and the player selection committee of American Football Coaches Association.