Zach Line Named C-USA Preseason Offensive Player of the Year

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Four Mustangs Named Preseason All-C-USA
Line Named Preseason Offensive Player Of The Year

July 23, 2012

IRVING (SMU) - SMU's Margus Hunt, Darius Johnson, Zach Line and Taylor Reed have been named preseason All-Conference USA as chosen by the league's 12 head coaches, the league office announced today. In addition, Line was chosen as the preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Hunt enters 2012 after being named the No. 1 athletic "freak" in college football by CBSSports.com. He is a three-time All-C-USA honorable mention selection and notched 28 stops and four blocked kicks in 2011. He wrapped up the season with a dominant performance in the BBVA Compass Bowl win, racking up three sacks and five total tackles.

Johnson has been named MVP in back-to-back bowl games for the Mustangs and was a first-team All-C-USA pick in 2011. He wrapped up 2011 with a seven-catch, 120-yard, one-TD performance in SMU's BBVA Compass Bowl win over Pitt. He finished the year with 79 catches for 1,188 yards and eight TDs.

Line was named first team All-C-USA in both 2010 and 2011 and led the league in rushing both years. Last season, Line suffered a foot injury and missed the last three games of the season but still ranked seventh in the nation in rushing at 122.4 yards per game. He posted eight 100-yard rushing games in 10 games played and led C-USA with 17 rushing touchdowns in 2011.

Reed, who was All-C-USA in 2011 and on the All-C-USA Freshman Team in 2009, led SMU with 101 tackles last season, including 9.5 tackles for loss and four sacks. It marked the second straight season he led SMU in stops.

SMU and UCF had the most overall preseason selections with four, while East Carolina, Houston, Rice and Southern Miss had three.

Preseason accolades continue to roll in for the Mustangs. Line is now on the Watch Lists for the Walter Camp, Maxwell & Doak Walker Awards; Johnson is on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List and Hunt and Reed are on the Lombardi list. Additionally, Ja'Gared Davis is on the Butkus Award list and Blake McJunkin the Rimington.

On the heels of its third straight bowl appearance, SMU will host Texas A&M, TCU, Memphis, C-USA West rivals Houston and Tulsa and 2011 C-USA Champion Southern Miss at Ford Stadium in 2012. Ticket sales have been brisk, as SMU has already surpassed its season ticket sales totals for the rest of the June Jones era. For Mustang ticket information, call the Athletics Department Ticket Office at (214) SMU-GAME (768-4263).

2012 C-USA FOOTBALL COACHES PRESEASON AWARDS
Offensive Player of the Year
Zach Line, Sr., RB, SMU
Defensive Player of the Year
Trent Mackey, Sr., LB, Tulane
Special Teams Player of the Year
Tracey Lampley, Sr., KR/PR, Southern Miss

First-Team Offense
QB Nick Lamaison, Sr., UTEP
RB Charles Sims, Jr., Houston
RB Zach Line, Sr., SMU
OL Jordan Devey, Sr., Memphis
OL Joe Duhon, Sr., Southern Miss
OL Kevin Forsch, Jr., Houston
OL Theo Goins, Sr., UCF
OL Chris Hubbard, Sr., UAB
OL Will Simmons, Jr., East Carolina
WR Willie Carter, Jr., Tulsa
WR Aaron Dobson, Sr., Marshall
WR Darius Johnson, Sr., SMU
TE Luke Willson, Sr., Rice

First-Team Defense
DL Michael Brooks, Sr., East Carolina
DL Jamie Collins, Sr., Southern Miss
DL Victor Gray, Jr., UCF
DL Margus Hunt, Sr., SMU
LB Jeremy Grove, So., East Carolina
LB Trent Mackey, Sr., Tulane
LB Taylor Reed, Sr., SMU
DB Bryce Callahan, So., Rice
DB D.J. Hayden, Sr., Houston
DB Kemal Ishmael, Sr., UCF
DB Dexter McCoil, Sr., Tulsa

First-Team Special Teams
K Chris Boswell, Jr., Rice
P Ian Campbell, Sr., UTEP
KR Rannell Hall, So., UCF
PR Tracey Lampley, Sr., Southern Miss

[Dubbya]

Two things:

1) How the hell is Ja'Gared Davis not on the first-team defense?

2) I want to see Zach Line win this same honor at the END of the season!

[NTXCoog]

How is UTEP's Lamaison 1st team QB? Piland, Green, and Gilbert should be ahead of him and that's just the West QBs.

[ponyboy]

The J.G. overlook is very surprising.

[PSCA]

I agree on the omission of JG. I don’t recall the young man from Tulane, but I assume he’s good. Not sure how many teams in C-USA run the 3-4, let’s assume none. That’s 37 starters counting our 4, more if others run the 3-4, and only three are chosen 1st team. Some good folks are going to be left off the 1st team … maybe even all conf nodes at any level of recognition. But, JG not included … I don’t buy into that. This is pre-season, he and others will be where they deserve to be when the dust settles.

[MustangSTATS]

How is UTEP's Lamaison 1st team QB? Piland, Green, and Gilbert should be ahead of him and that's just the West QBs.

Guess they wanted a returning starter on the roster.

[PonyPlayer4]

I think JG will have his biggest year this year. 4th year in the system, and he will finally have a proven playmaker in Stephon Sanders opposite him. I'm not sure if JG tailed off at the end of last year, but I think Sanders was the more impressive OLB at the end of the year.

[Big Hoss]

Two things:

1) How the hell is Ja'Gared Davis not on the first-team defense?

2) I want to see Zach Line win this same honor at the END of the season!

On your #1, that was the very first thought that popped into my head when I read the headline.

[Junior]

I have no issue with Gilbert not being on this list whatsoever.

[goldenstang]

Gilbert hasn't done anything to deserve to be on this list. Yet. JG should definitely be there.

[Rayburn]

Congrats to Zach. Stomp some [deleted] this year, big boy.