Four Freshmen Earn Postseason Football Honors
Friday, December 1, 2006 | Football
University of Florida wide receiver Percy Harvin (Virginia Beach, Va.), quarterback Tim Tebow (Jacksonville, Fla.) and offensive lineman Ronnie Wilson (Pompano Beach, Fla.) have been selected to the Sporting News Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team, the publication announced Friday. Harvin also garnered SEC Offensive Freshman of the Year Honors from the same outlet, while he and UF running back/kick returner Brandon James (St. Augustine, Fla.) have also been tabbed first-team Freshman All-Americans by Rivals.com.
Harvin and James are the third and fourth Gators, respectively, to earn All-America honors from Rivals.com in 2006, as junior safety Reggie Nelson (Melbourne, Fla.) was named to the first-team defense and junior cornerback Ryan Smith (Diamond Bar, Calif.) was a third-team selection earlier in the week. The two selections mark the first time since 2003 that multiple Gators have claimed Freshman All-America honors from the outlet.
Harvin has caught 20 passes for 305 yards and a touchdown, in addition to running the ball 30 times for 308 yards and a score, this season. His 606 yards of total offense on 50 touches give him an average of 12.1 yards per touch that ranks third nationally among freshmen with a minimum of 50 touches, and his 10.0 yards per rush clip rates first in the country among rookies with at least 10 carries. Harvin, who's 301 yards on the ground rank third on the team, has been UF's leading rusher in four games this season, and turned in a career-high 86 yards and a touchdown in the Gators' win over Florida State. He earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors on Sept. 11, after torching UCF for 99 receiving yards on four catches, highlighted by a 58-yard scoring strike from senior quarterback Chris Leak (Charlotte, N.C.), and gaining 11 rushing yards on two attempts. In the season opener against Southern Miss, Harvin became the first true freshman wide receiver in school history to earn a starting nod in the year's first game.
Tebow's stellar freshman campaign has seen him run the ball 71 times for 399 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns, while completing 21-of-32 passes (65.6 percent) for 357 yards and four scores. His average of 5.6 yards per carry ranks 35th nationally, and second in the country among quarterbacks; his seven rushing scores also place him eighth nationally among signal callers, and he is one of only nine quarterbacks to have two rushing touchdowns against AP top-25 competition. He is currently one TD shy of tying Jimmy Fisher's single-season school record for quarterback scores in a campaign, set in 1976. After playing a part in each of Florida's three touchdowns – two passes and a run – in its Oct. 7 win over LSU, Tebow took home SEC Freshman of the Week accolades.
James ranks third in the SEC, and leads all conference freshmen, with a 12.8-yard punt return average (320 yards on 25 returns), while also rating 10th in the league with an 18.2-yard kick return average on 19 attempts. He established a single-game school record for punt return yards against Western Carolina, piling up 155 on six tries; the effort also marked the ninth-highest single-game total in SEC history, as well as the second-best one-game performance by a freshman in league annals. One of his punt returns against WCU was a 77-yard touchdown jaunt, making him just the second freshman in school history to take a punt back for a score, and the first Gator to do so since Lito Sheppard in 2000.
Wilson has battled back from a preseason ankle injury to secure a key role on the Florida offensive line. He made his first collegiate appearance in the win over LSU, and drew his first starting duties in the Gators' defeat of Vanderbilt. Wilson also saw time on the offensive line in the Western Carolina game.
Fourth-ranked Florida will take to the field at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Saturday, looking to win the seventh SEC title in school history when it faces No. 9 Arkansas. The game is scheduled to kickoff at 6 p.m. EST, and can be seen on CBS.
- UF -
