Welker Named to Big 12 Coaches First Team
December 03, 2003 | Football
Dec. 3, 2003
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Texas Tech senior receiver and NCAA record-setting punt returner Wes Welker (Oklahoma City, Okla.) has been selected to the Big 12 Coaches First Team and is one of 12 Red Raiders named to the overall squad. True freshman linebacker Brock Stratton (San Antonio, Texas) was selected as the Co-Defensive Freshman of the Year, splitting the honor with Iowa State's Jason Berryman.
Welker set career NCAA marks in punt returns for touchdowns (8) and punt return yards (1,744) this season and is on the verge of setting the career returns mark with one game to play. Welker enters this year's bowl game needing four returns to break the record of 153, set by BYU's Vai Sikahema in the early 1980s.
Stratton is second on the team with 83 tackles, including five for loss. He also has an interception, 57 solo tackles, one and half sacks and a fumble recovery. He finished the regular season ranks seventh nationally among the nation's freshman defenders.
Senior quarterback B.J. Symons (Houston, Texas) and junior offensive tackle Daniel Loper (Houston, Texas) were selected to the offensive second team. Symons threw for an NCAA single-season record 5,336 yards, while Loper and company provided the protection. The offensive line turned in one of its best season, allowing only 25 sacks in 727 pass attempts, compared to 46 sacks given up in 2002. Senior strong safety Ryan Aycock (Lubbock, Texas) also earned second-team honors after leading the Red Raiders with six interceptions on the season.
Senior center Toby Cecil (Richardson, Texas), senior tight end Mickey Peters (Weatherford, Texas) and junior defensive end Adell Duckett (Mineral Wells, Texas) were third-team honorees. Cecil was another key cog in the success of the offensive line this season and ranked second among the nation's offensive linemen with 49-consecutive career starts. Peters turned in his best season as a Red Raider, catching 70 passes for 895 yards and a team-leading 10 touchdowns to lead the nation's tight ends. Duckett led the Big 12 Conference with 14 sacks and was among the nation's leaders. He also set the school single-season sacks record and has moved into third place on the Texas Tech career sacks list.
Five Red Raiders were named honorable mention, including wide receivers Carlos Francis (Fort Worth, Texas) and Nehemiah Glover (LaMarque, Texas), running back Taurean Henderson (Gatesville, Texas), Stratton and free safety Vincent Meeks (Rockwall, Texas).
Although his numbers were among the best in the conference, Francis was named to the honorable mention list after finishing the regular-season ranked third in the Big 12 Conference and 18th nationally with 90.6 receiving yards per game. He also turned in five 100-yard receiving games and caught nine touchdown passes. His 1,087 receiving yards makes him only the third player in school history to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season.
Glover caught 68 passes for 965 and grabbed eight touchdowns, while Henderson is leading Tech to its best rushing season under head coach Mike Leach with a 6.1 yard-per-carry average on 113 carries and nine touchdowns. Meeks is second on the team with four interceptions and fifth with 49 tackles.
