AP Names Five Bears All-Big 12 Football
12/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 3, 2004
WACO, Texas - Five Baylor football student-athletes were named the to Associated Press All-Big 12 Conference teams, announced Thursday by the press organization. The AP honors two teams and an honorable mention team, selected by 20 AP media members who cover Big 12 football.
Punter Daniel Sepulveda earned first-team honors, while return specialist Willie Andrews, linebacker Justin Crooks and defensive back Maurice Lane were named second team. Andrews also was named honorable mention as a defensive back, and defensive end Montez Murphy joined Andrews on the honorable mention squad.
Sepulveda, a sophomore from Dallas, Texas, was an honorable mention selection by the AP last year. He is the first Bear to earn first-team honors from both the coaches and the writers in the same season since Ty Atteberry in 1996. Sepulveda also is the first Bear named first-team All-Big 12 by the writers since Gary Baxter in 2000.
A finalist for the Ray Guy Award, Sepulveda ranks second in the Big 12 and third nationally with 46.0 yards per punt, the second-best single-season average in school history. Sepulveda also leads the conference with 24 punts of 50-plus yards and 26 punts downed inside the opponent's 20 yard line. Baylor ranks fifth nationally in net punting at 40.6 yards per punt; Sepulveda's 42.5 net average ranks second nationally.
Andrews, a junior from Longview, Texas, established Baylor single season records for total kick return yards (1,184), kickoff return yards (741) and punt return yards (443). He currently leads the Big 12 and ranks 21st nationally with 24.7 yards per kickoff return; he ranks fourth in the conference and 45th nationally with 10.8 yards per punt return. Andrews ranks sixth in the Big 12 and 60th nationally with 107.6 all-purpose yards per game, the most of any student-athlete in the nation without offensive yardage.
Defensively, Andrews finished third on the team with 67 tackles, tied for 27th in the league. He also had 10 tackles for loss, tied for 11th in the Big 12. Andrews led the Bears with three sacks, and he contributed three passes broken up, seven quarterback hurries and one forced fumble.
Crooks, a senior from Round Rock, Texas, finished the season with career highs of 87 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and two fumbles forced. He also recovered two fumbles, scored a defensive touchdown and matched his career best with two sacks. Crooks ranks sixth in the conference in tackles, fifth among linebackers, and is second in the Big 12 in tackles for loss. His 16 tackles for loss tie for the fourth-best single-season total in Baylor history.
Lane, a junior from Killeen, Texas, tallied 104 tackles on the season, third in the Big 12. After totaling 129 tackles in 2003, Lane becomes just the 10th player in school history to record 100 or more tackles in consecutive seasons and the first since Rodney Smith in 1997 and 1998. Lane made 77 solo stops this season, tops in the Big 12 and eighth in Baylor history.
A junior from Centreville, Ill., Murphy produced 20 tackles in eight games with five stops behind the line, two sacks, two quarterback hurries and two fumbles forced. In his first season at Baylor after transferring from Coffeyville [Kan.] Community College, Murphy recorded a season-high eight tackles against Texas State; he also forced a fumble against the Bobcats that was returned for a touchdown by Crooks.
