| Home: PressRoom : Press Release |
Konica Minolta Gator Bowl to Showcase Offensive and Defensive Award Winners
JACKSONVILLE, FL – The New Year’s Day Konica Minolta Gator Bowl will feature the #1 passing offense of Texas Tech against Virginia, the #17 defensive team in the country. It is a game that should entertain all football enthusiasts.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders will bring their mighty offense to Jacksonville Municipal Stadium with two outstanding offensive leaders.
Texas Tech Wide Receiver Michael Crabtree, recipient of the prestigious Biletnikoff Award, has added to his impressive list of postseason honors when the Touchdown Club of Columbus announced the Red Raider as its 2007 Freshman of the Year and recipient of its Paul Warfield Award, given annually to the nation’s top receiver. Other honors include concensus All-America First Team, all-conference, national and conference freshman of the year. He holds the NCAA freshman record and national leader with 125 receptions, 1,861 yards and 21 receiving touchdowns.
Fellow Texas Tech teammate, quarterback Graham Harrell, is an offensive team standout and is recognized as a national passing leader with 5,298 yards, 441.5 yards per game, 45 touchdown passes and a 72.7 completion percentage. He was honored by The Touchdown Club of Columbus and awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy as the nation’s top quarterback.
The Virginia Cavaliers will bring their mighty defense to Jacksonville led by Defensive Tackle, Chris Long, who has had an impressive career on the defensive side of the ball while at the University of Virginia. He has accumulated many honors including the Ted Hendricks
Award as the nation’s top defensive end. He is a unanimous All-American, only the third in University of Virginia’s history and was in the top 10 finish in Heisman Trophy voting. Chris received First Team all-America honors from the Associated Press, the Football Writers Association of America, the Walter Camp Football Foundation, the American Football Coaches Association, the Sporting News, CBSSports.com, Sports Illustrated.com and Rivals.com. Long was also named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and was the recipient of the Dudley Award as the top collegiate player in the state of Virginia. Other honors include Defensive lineman of the year by the Richmond Touchdown Club, a finalist for the Lott, Lombardi and Nagurski Awards and has had his jersey retired by Virginia.
Joining his Virginia teammate is Junior Offensive Guard Branden Albert. He has also had an impressive career and has been nationally recognized with Third Team All-America honors from the Associated Press and named First Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Konica Minolta Gator Bowl will be played on January 1, 2008 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium with kick-off at 1:00 p.m.
For information on the game and game week events, please visit www.gatorbowl.com
