Bowling Green freshman running back Anthon Samuel was named the Mid-American Conference's top freshman football player, while six of his Falcon teammates were named to the All-MAC team, the league announced Wednesday.
Samuel was voted MAC freshman of the year, one of six specialty awards the league announced. Four BG players -- senior wide receiver Kamar Jorden, junior defensive tackle Chris Jones, sophomore punter Brian Schmiedebusch and junior linebacker Dwayne Woods -- were voted All-MAC first team by the league's coaches.
Sophomore rover BooBoo Gates was named second team All-MAC as a kickoff return specialist, while senior center Ben Bojicic was voted to the third team. The All-MAC teams were selected in a vote of the league's coaches.
The four Falcons to receive All-MAC first team honors were the most since 2004.
Samuel received the freshman honor in a vote of MAC News Media Association. The other honors announced today were Northern Illinois' Chandler Harnish as the league's offensive player of the year and Vern Smith Leadership Award winner; Drew Nowak of Western Michigan as the league's defensive player of the year; Matt Weller of Ohio named as the special teams player of the year; and Eastern Michigan's Ron English was the coach of the year.
Samuel set a BG record for rushing yardage for a freshman by posting 844 yards in nine games. Samuel ranked fifth in the MAC and 37th nationally with his average of 93.8 yards per game; he ranks third nationally among freshman at FBS schools, and is the top-ranked "true" freshman.
Samuel ran for at least 100 yards in five of his nine games, including a season-best 141 yards on 22 carries in his first-ever game, at Idaho on Sept. 1. He also had 122 yards on 11 attempts against Morgan State while running for 121 yards on 16 carries at Miami -- a day that included a 96-yard TD run, the longest rush in school history. Samuel's other 100-yard days came in a 25-carry, 105-yard effort against Toledo and a 18-rush, 112-yard day against Temple.
Samuel is the third Falcon to be named MAC freshman of the year. The others were Brian McClure in 1982 and Kurt Gerling in 1998.
Jorden was named to the All-MAC first team for the second straight season after catching 78 passes for 1,089 yards and 12 touchdowns. Jorden's yardage total was the fourth-highest in school history -- just shy of the 1,109 yards he had in 2010 -- and made him the first receiver in BG annals to surpass 1,000 yards receiving in two different seasons.
Jorden ranked fourth in the MAC in both receptions per game (6.5) and receiving yards per contest (90.8).
Jones stepped up to the first team after being voted to the third team last season. In 2011 Jones had 47 tackles, including 8.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss. Jones tied for the MAC lead in sacks with 0.71 per game and tied for fourth in tackles for loss with an average of 1.17 per game.
Schmiedebusch had 57 punts for 2,583 yards for an average of 45.3 yards per kick. Schmiedebusch had 19 punts of 50 yards or more (33.3 percent), including an 81-yard boot, and landed 18 punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line (31.6 percent), with just eight touchbacks.
As a team, the Falcons led the MAC and ranked fifth nationally with an average of 40.56 yards per punt.
Woods moved up from second team All-MAC last season to first team this year. Woods led the Falcons with 111 tackles, including 57 solo stops, and ranked seventh in the league with his average of 9.2 tackles per contest.
Woods tied Jones for the team lead in tackles for loss with 14 to tie for fourth in the MAC with 1.17 per game. He also caused two fumbles and recovered two fumbles, intercepted one pass and broke up another, and also had one quarterback "hurry."
Gates received All-MAC honors for the first time in his career after returning 38 kickoffs for a total of 981 yards, setting a school record for return yardage. Gates ranked fourth in the MAC and 28th nationally with his average of 25.8 yards per return, thanks in part to an 88-yard kickoff return for a TD against Toledo.
Bojicic gave stability to an offensive line that struggled in 2011. Bojicic started all 12 games for the Falcons -- six at center and six at left tackle -- and helped BG average 122.9 rushing yards per game, nearly double its total from the previous season.
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