Kansas State was one of the big winners as the 2011 All Big 12 football awards were announced today.
Wildcat coach Bill Snyder was named Coach of the Year, the third time he has captured the award in his 20 seasons on the sidelines for Kansas State. Wide-receiver and kick-returner Tyler Lockett was selected by the 10 league coaches as the Freshman Offensive Player of the Year, and linebacker Arthur Brown was named Defensive Newcomer of the Year. This is the sixth time in Big 12 history that a Kansas State player has been newcomer of the year on defense.
In addition, four from Kansas State were named to the All-Big 12 first team, one on offense and three on defense. On offense was lineman Clyde Aufner. First-team Wildcat selections on defense were Brown, lineman Ray Kibble and defensive back Nigel Malone. Arthur and Kibble are both seniors. Brown and Malone are juniors. Three Wildcats were named the all-conference second team, for a total of 10 players honored from Kansas State.
Missouri placed two on the All-Big 12 First-Team Offense: senior tight-end Michael Egnew and sophomore running back Henry Josey.
There was little mystery in who the Offensive Player of the Year would be. As expected, Baylor's multi-talented Robert Griffin III, who is also a finalist this season for the Heisman Trophy, walked away with the top honor on offense. Co-Players of the Year were named on defense: senior defensive end Frank Alexander of Oklahoma and junior linebacker A.J. Klein from Iowa State. This is the first time since the Big 12 was established (in 1996) that two have shared the league's top award on defense.
Other individual award winners were senior Grant Garner of Oklahoma State, Offensive Lineman of the Year. Garner is the second Cowboy to win this award in the past three years (Russell Okung won it in 2009). Another Oklahoma State player, junior Quinn Sharp, is Special Teams Player of the Year. Oklahoma State has dominated the Special Teams award in recent years. Sharp is the third from OSU to win the award in the last four seasons (Dez Bryant in 2008 and Dan Bailey last year).
Aaron Horne, a junior wide receiver from Iowa State is Offensive Newcomer of the Year. Quandre Diggs, a Texas defensive back, is Defensive Freshman of the Year, and OU's Alexander is Defensive Lineman of the Year. Diggs is the fifth member of the Texas Longhorns to be named Defensive Freshman of the Year.
Conference-champion Oklahoma State led all Big 12 schools, placing eight players on the 2011 All-Big 12 first team. Oklahoma was next with six, followed by Kansas State, Baylor and Texas with four. Missouri and Iowa State had two players named to the all-conference first team.
Oklahoma has received the most major awards in football in the 16 years of the Big 12 Conference with 27. Texas has won 23 major end-of-season awards; Kansas State, 19; Oklahoma State, 12; Iowa State, eight; Texas Tech, seven; Kansas and Missouri, six each; Texas A&M, 5, and Baylor, three.
2011 All-Big 12 Football First Team
Offense
QB - Robert Griffin III (junior), Baylor
RB - Terrance Ganaway (senior), Baylor
RB - Henry Josey (sophomore), Missouri
FB - Trey Millard (sophomore), Oklahoma
WR - Kendall Wright (senior), Baylor
WR - Ryan Broyles (senior), Oklahoma
WR - Justin Blackmon (junior), Oklahoma State
TE - Michael Egnew (senior), Missouri
OL - Philip Blake (senior), Baylor
OL - Kelechi Osemele (senior), Iowa State
OL - Clyde Aufner (senior), Kansas State
OL - Gabe Ikard (sophomore), Oklahoma
OL - Levy Adcock (senior), Oklahoma State
OL - Grant Garner (senior), Oklahoma State
PK - Quinn Sharp (junior), Oklahoma State
KR/PR - Fozzy Whittaker (senior), Texas
Defense
DL - Ray Kibble (senior), Kansas State
DL - Frank Alexander (senior), Oklahoma
DL - Ronnell Lewis (junior), Oklahoma
DL - Jamie Blatnick (senior), Oklahoma State
DL - Alex Okafur (junior), Texas
LB - A.J. Klein (junior), Iowa State
LB - Arthur Brown (junior), Kansas State
LB - Emmanuel Acho (senior), Texas
DB - Nigel Malone (junior), Kansas State
DB - Jamell Fleming (senior), Oklahoma
DB - Brodrick Brown (junior), Oklahoma State
DB - Markelle Martin (senior), Oklahoma State
DB - Kenny Vaccaro (junior), Texas
P - Quinn Sharp (junior), Oklahoma State
For more information: