Feb. 16, 2004
WACO, Texas - Baylor University senior running back Rashad Armstrong (Miami, Fla.), senior linebacker John Garrett (Mart, Texas) and redshirt freshman punter Daniel Sepulveda (Dallas, Texas) received Most Valuable Player honors at the Bears' season-ending banquet held Sunday evening at Floyd Casey Stadium.
Selected as College Football News' 2003 Baylor Player of the Year, Armstrong earned second-team All-Big 12 honors from both the Waco Tribune-Herald and the San Antonio Express-News and third-team recognition from the league's coaches. In 2003, he became Baylor's sixth 1,000-yard rusher and the program's first since 1995 as he tallied 1,074 rushing yards on the season with six touchdowns. Armstrong ranked fifth in the Big 12 and 39th nationally in rushing yards per game. He received Baylor's offensive MVP honor.
Garrett was a second-team All-Big 12 selection (Big 12 coaches, Waco Tribune-Herald, Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express-News) and was honored as Baylor's defensive MVP. He finished the season with 52 tackles, including 17.5 stops behind the line and 10.0 sacks. Garrett's sack total ranks second in school history, just one half-sack shy of Matthew Pearson's 1998 record. A 2000 freshman All-America selection, Garrett registered eight quarterback hurries, forced two fumbles and broke up two passes.
Daniel Sepulveda, meanwhile, earned Baylor's special teams MVP award after ranking third in the Big 12 and 23rd nationally with his 43.1 yard punting average. He received first-team All-Big 12 honors from College Football News as a redshirt freshman in 2003 and garnered second-team All-Big 12 recognition from the Big 12 coaches and honorable mention honors from the Associated Press. Twenty-three of Sepulveda's punts pinned opponents inside their 20-yard line and he set a BU single-season record with 25 punts of 50 or more yards. His 3,750 punt yards were also a school record, while his 87 punts was just one shy of the BU mark.
Senior center and team captain Cedric Fields (Corsicana, Texas) was honored as BU's best offensive lineman after starting 36 consecutive starts on the offensive line, the last 24 of which came at center. Fields was the leader of an offensive line that produced Baylor's first 1,000-yard running back since 1995 in Armstrong.
Fields also shared the team's Captain Award with senior defensive back Matt Johnson (Pearland, Texas). Johnson started 11 games at cornerback for the Bears and recorded 35 tackles (32 solo) and a team-high eight pass break-ups.
The team's best defensive lineman honor went to another senior, right end Dominick Cravens (Tyler, Texas). He recorded 37 tackles, including 31 solo stops, in his final season as a Bear.
Sophomore cornerback Maurice Lane (Killeen, Texas) was selected as the team's best defensive skill player, while senior Robert Quiroga (San Antonio, Texas) earned the same honor for the Baylor offense. Lane made a team-high 129 stops for the Bears in 2003, including 89 solos. He ranked fifth in the Big 12 and 30th nationally with 10.75 tackles per game and his 7.42 solo tackles per game led the Big 12 and ranked 13th nationally.
Quiroga, a three-year starter at wide receiver, made a splash late in the season when he began returning kickoffs. Against Kansas State, his first game returning kickoffs, Quiroga established a school record with 183 yards on five returns, including a 98-yard return for a touchdown. The following week, he joined Kalief Muhammad as the only players in school history with a 100-yard kickoff return. Quiroga became only the second player in Big 12 history with two kickoff returns for touchdown in the same season.
Senior linebacker Stephen Sepulveda (Dallas, Texas) earned the Kyle Woods Award after finishing sixth on the team in tackles with 45, including 24 solo stops. He started 11 of 12 games for the Bears in 2003 and was a first-team Academic All-Big 12 selection and a second-team CoSIDA Academic All-District VI choice.
In addition, junior wide receiver Phil Tran (Houston, Texas) received the squad's highest team GPA honor; defensive back Jason Reaux (Thrall, Texas) and wide receiver Shaun Rochon (Houston, Texas) earned MVP honors of the offensive and defensive scout teams, respectively. The Bears' most improved player was senior tight end Shane Williams (Springdale, Ark.), who caught 12 passes for 109 yards and one score in his final season.
Baylor ended its 2003 season with a 3-9 record and went 1-7 in the Big 12 South. Coach Guy Morriss' second BU team begins spring drills on Tuesday, March 23rd.
