April 14, 2007

Seniors Shawn Bell, Maurice Linguist and Daniel Sepulveda were selected the Most Valuable Players of the 2006 Baylor football team and received their honors during the program's annual awards banquet Saturday evening.

Bell, whose 2006 campaign was cut short when he went down with a season-ending knee injury late in the Texas A&M game, received the Bears' offensive MVP award. He established virtually every school single-season and career passing record despite not playing more than nine games in any of his four seasons. Bell missed the final three games of the 2006 season, but still set school single-season records for passing yards (2,582), attempts (383), completions (241), completion percentage (.629) and touchdowns (19) while directing the Bears to a 4-5 record as a starter and a school single-season record three Big 12 victories.

Linguist finished his senior season as Baylor's No. 3 tackler with 71 stops, including a team-high 7.5 for losses totaling 29 yards, from his outside safety position to garner team defensive MVP honors. He also registered one sack, two pass breakups and a pair of forced fumbles. A member of the 2006 Big 12 Good Works Team, Linguist started 24 games over his four-year career at Baylor and earned 2006 honorable mention All-Big 12 honors from the league's coaches.

The only two-time Ray Guy Award winner in college football history, Sepulveda was the Bears' special teams MVP and Kyle Woods Award winner after leading the nation in punting as a senior with his 46.5-yard average. Baylor's first unanimous consensus All-American since defensive tackle Santana Dotson in 1991, Sepulveda was the only Division I-A player to earn unanimous All-America honors on the field and first-team Academic All-America honors in the classroom. Sepulveda's career punting average (45.24 yards per punt) is the best in the history of Division I football for players with at least 50 punts and he also established an NCAA record with 94 career punts of 50-plus yards.

The coaching staff tabbed senior running back Paul Mosley as the Bears' best offensive skill player. Mosley led the Bears in rushing with his 43.5-yard average and accounted for six of the team's nine rushing touchdowns. He also caught 23 passes for 122 yards and one touchdown in his final Green & Gold campaign. Mosley finished his career ranked No. 11 on Baylor's all-time rushing list with 1,718 yards, T-No. 7 in career rush touchdowns (17) and No. 10 in rush attempts (408).

Baylor's defensive skill players of the year were senior cornerbacks Anthony Arline and C.J. Wilson. An honorable mention coaches All-Big 12 selection, Arline registered 26 tackles as a senior with three pass breakups, two interceptions, one fumble recovery and a forced fumble. Wilson, who second-team All-Big 12 honors from Associated Press for the second consecutive season, finished fourth on the team in tackles with 59 stops. He also totaled a team-high six pass breakups and a team-leading four interceptions.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Joe Pawelek received the team academic award and was selected as the Bears' best defensive front player. A first-team freshman All-America selection by The Sporting News, the Football Writers Association of America and collegefootballnews.com, Pawelek was also named the Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year by both The Associated Press and the San Antonio Express News, while earning the league's Defensive Freshman of the Year honor from four publications. He led the Bears in tackles (86) and quarterback hurries (nine), while totaling 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, four pass breakups and an interception which ended Baylor's 34-31 triple-overtime victory at Colorado.

Sophomore inside receiver Thomas White and redshirt freshman defensive end Jason Lamb were named Baylor's most improved offensive and defensive players, respectively. White was fourth on the team in receptions with 26 for 372 yards and two touchdowns, while averaging 14.3 yards per catch. Lamb, who was named to The Sporting News' All-Big 12 freshman honor team, totaled 38 tackles in 2006 with 5.5 for loss, one sack and six quarterback hurries. He ranked No. 8 on the squad in total tackles overall, but was No. 1 among defensive linemen, while starting eight games.

Junior outside safety Zach Jones received offensive scout team MVP honors and freshman cornerback Dominique Criss was the defensive scout team MVP.

Team captain awards were presented to Bell, Wilson and senior wide receiver Dominique Zeigler.

Baylor finished the 2006 season 4-8 overall and 3-5 in the Big 12 Conference. The Bears won a school-record three Big 12 games in 2006 to improve their conference win total for the third consecutive season under head coach Guy Morriss' leadership.