KNOXVILLE -- The 2007 Coaches Preseason All-SEC Team was released by the league Thursday, with six Tennessee players earning inclusion. Senior defensive back Jonathan Hefney and juniors Jerod Mayo (linebacker) and Britton Colquitt (punter) were first-team selections.
Senior quarterback Erik Ainge and sophomore tailback LaMarcus Coker were both on the second-team offense. Tennessee's preseason All-SEC contingent was rounded out by third-team offensive lineman Anthony Parker.
Last season, UT had five players named to the preseason team. Hefney has been a preseason selection the past two seasons and in 2006 he was a preseason second-team choice. In 2006, only 10 of the 25 players named to the preseason first-team also made the postseason first-team.
Tennessee’s six selections were tied for third-most in the conference. The Vols’ three first-team selections tied for second-most. LSU led all teams with 12 honorees and six first-team picks. Arkansas running back Darren McFadden was the only unanimous selection. Coaches could not vote for their own players so unanimous selections would appear on the other 11 ballots.
This is the fourth year of the SEC Coaches Preseason All-SEC Football Team. It is released in advance of the 2007 SEC Football Media Days, which takes place July 25-27 at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Ala. Media in attendance at SEC Football Media Days will vote on their own All-SEC team and a predicted order of finish for the league.
TENNESSEE’S KELL INCLUDED IN WEEKEND COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME ENSHRINEMENT
DALLAS -- College football fans from across the country will join the National Football Foundation on Friday and Saturday at the organization's annual Enshrinement Festival in South Bend, Ind. Held at the College Football Hall of Fame, thousands will gather to pay tribute to the storied careers of the game's greatest stars.
Included among this year’s 20 inductees is former Tennessee two-time consensus All-America lineman Chip Kell.
"We are very pleased to have the opportunity to enshrine another exceptional class of college football legends," said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. "Each year our hard-working Honors Court, chaired by Gene Corrigan, does an outstanding job in ensuring the game's legends are duly recognized."
The weekend's celebration will include a celebrity golf tournament, an outdoor concert, a grand parade, a flag football game, a youth clinic, culminating with the Enshrinement Dinner and Show on Saturday night.
Kell was a three-time All-SEC selection during his playing days at Tennessee (1968-70) and is the 21st Vol to be selected to college football's shrine in South Bend.
He played center in 1968 as a sophomore and moved to guard in 1969 without missing a beat. He is one of 14 Vols named All-America twice. He joins three other former Vols, fullback Curt Watson (1969-71), offensive guard Mickey Marvin (1974-76) and placekicker Jeff Hall (1995-96, 1998), as Tennessee players who earned All-SEC honors three times.
Kell came to the Vols in the 1966-67 recruiting class from Avondale High School in Decatur, Ga. He played on teams that earned an 8-2-1 record in 1968, a 9-2 record and the SEC title in 1969 and an 11-1 mark and final No. 4 ranking in 1970. During his Tennessee varsity career, he and his senior classmates never lost on Shields-Watkins Field, with only a 17-17 tie against Georgia in the 1968 season opener marring the record. Kell and his Vol teammates closed their careers with a rousing 34-13 win over Air Force in the 1971 Sugar Bowl, ending their time at Tennessee on a 10-game win streak, 28-5-1 overall.
He was a two-time winner of the Jacobs Memorial Award as the SEC's best blocker and was the Birmingham Quarterback Club's SEC most outstanding lineman in his senior season. He also played in the 1971 Senior Bowl and was named national lineman of the week after the 1970 Kentucky game.
After being drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the 17th round of the 1971 NFL draft and following a two-year career with the CFL Edmonton Eskimos (1971-72), Kell began his coaching career in 1973 and is currently in-school suspension instructor at Crossroads Academy in Dalton, Ga. He has twin daughters, Abby and Annie, 17, and a son, Dusty, 28, who lives in Knoxville, and two grandchildren.
TENNESSEE PLACES 47 ON 2007 SEC FRESHMAN ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL
A total of 47 Tennessee Vols and Lady Vols were named to the 2007 SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll in a release Wednesday by Commissioner Mike Slive.
Each student-athlete must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above, be on scholarship or a letter-winner, have completed 24 semester hours of non-remedial credit, and have been a member of the varsity team for the sport’s entire NCAA championship segment. The 2007 SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll is based on grades from the 2006-07 academic calendar.
Tennessee student-athletes achieving this honor in 2007 were:
BASEBALL
Bryan Morgado, Sport Management
Bryan Powell, Business
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Quinn Cannington, Psychology
Steven Pearl, Business
FOOTBALL
Chad Cunningham, Communications
Daniel Lincoln, Business
MEN’S GOLF
David Holmes, Arts & Sciences
Cameron Lawrence, Arts & Sciences
WOMEN’S GOLF
Virginia Brown, Communications
Diana Cantu, Business
Leah Hagedorn, Legal Studies
ROWING
Leila Appel, Arts & Sciences
Heidi Buchanan, Biological Sciences
Mary Dreusike, Business
Stephanie Droste-Packham, Environmental Studies
Ashley Malousis, Arts & Sciences
Laura Miller, Arts & Sciences
Jena Murphy, Exercise Science
Alexandra Palus, Business
Sarah Patterson, English
Sharghi Rahmanian, Biological Science
Katherine Ross, Exercise Science
Emily Simmons, Arts & Sciences
Erica Smith, Arts & Sciences
Kate Snider, Anthropology
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Molly Baird, Arts & Sciences
Sarah Jackyra, Arts & Sciences
SOFTBALL
Tiffany Baker, Arts & Sciences
Alexia Clay, Arts & Sciences
Tiffany Huff, Special Education
MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING
Frankie Lacayo, Engineering
Jordan Walters, Theatre
WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING
Brittany Curran, Arts & Sciences
MEN’S TENNIS
Connor Vogel, Communications
Zsofia Zubor, Arts & Sciences
Chris Racz, Sport Management
MEN’S TRACK & FIELD
Nathan Grace, Arts & Sciences
John Hewitt, Plant Sciences
De’lon Isom, Political Science
Chris Kane, Sport Management
WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD
Jackie Areson, Arts & Sciences
Rose-Anne Galligan, Geography
Lynne Layne, Child & Family Studies
Jennifer Lewellen, Anthropology
Phoebe Wright, Arts & Sciences
VOLLEYBALL
Jena Berg, Sport Management
Kylie Marshall, Business
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)