2012-12-06



The good news continues to roll in for Louisville football.

The Big East has announced that Charlie Strong has been named its 2012 co-Coach of the Year, and Teddy Bridgewater has earned the title of 2012 Offensive Player of the Year .

Strong shares the Coach of the Year honor with Kyle Flood, whose Rutgers team also finished the Big East season with a 5-2 record. Strong also shared the award back in 2010.

Bridgewater becomes just the second Cardinal to be named Big East Offensive Player of the Year (Brian Brohm also picked up the award as a sophomore in '05), and is the first quarterback to earn the honor since West Virginia's Pat White did so in 2007.

In addition to the individual awards, eight Cardinals were named either first or second team All-Big East.

Bridgewater, Mario Benavides and DeVante Parker were all named to the league's first team offense, while Adrian Bushell earned his second straight first team nod on defense. Alex Kupper, Preston Brown, Calvin Pryor and Hakeem Smith were all second team honorees.

Here's the full list of awards and honorees:

BIG EAST OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Louisville (So., Miami, Fla.)

BIG EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Khaseem Greene, LB, Rutgers (Sr., Elizabeth, N.J.)

BIG EAST SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Matt Brown, RB, Temple (Sr., Baltimore, Md.)

BIG EAST ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Tyler Matakevich, LB, Temple (Fr., Stratford, Conn.)

BIG EAST COACH OF THE YEAR

Charlie Strong, Louisville

Kyle Flood, Rutgers

ALL-BIG EAST FIRST TEAM

OFFENSE

Pos.

Player

School

Cl.

Ht.

Wt.

Hometown/High School

WR

Alec Lemon *

Syracuse

Sr.

6-2

204

Crofton, Md./Arundel

WR

DeVante Parker

Louisville

So.

6-3

205

Louisville, Ky./Ballard

OT

Eric Lefeld

Cincinnati

So.

6-6

287

Coldwater, Ohio/Coldwater

OT

Justin Pugh

Syracuse

Sr.

6-5

297

Holland, Pa./Council Rock South

OG

Austen Bujnoch

Cincinnati

Jr.

6-5

285

Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder

OG

Antwan Lowery

Rutgers

Jr.

6-4

305

Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus

C

Mario Benavides

Louisville

Sr.

6-4

280

Los Fresnos, Texas/Los Fresnos

TE

Travis Kelce

Cincinnati

Sr.

6-6

260

Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights

QB

Teddy Bridgewater

Louisville

So.

6-3

218

Miami, Fla./Northwestern

RB

Ray Graham

Pittsburgh

Sr.

5-9

190

Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth

RB

Montel Harris

Temple

Sr.

5-10

207

Jacksonville, Fla./Trinity Christian

K

Maikon Bonani

USF

Sr.

5-10

176

Lake Wales, Fla./Lake Wales

RS

Matt Brown

Temple

Sr.

5-5

165

Baltimore, Md./Peddie School/Milford Academy

DEFENSE

Pos.

Player

School

Cl.

Ht.

Wt.

Hometown/High School

DL

Dan Giordano

Cincinnati

Sr.

6-4

260

Frankford, Ill./Lincoln-Way East

DL

Trevardo Williams *

Connecticut

Sr.

6-2

233

Bridgeport, Conn./Canterbury

DL

Aaron Donald

Pittsburgh

Jr.

6-0

275

Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills

DL

Scott Vallone

Rutgers

Sr.

6-3

275

Central Islip, N.Y./St. Anthony’s

LB

Greg Blair

Cincinnati

Sr.

6-2

252

Pittsburgh, Pa./Schenley/Lackawanna CC

LB

Sio Moore

Connecticut

Sr.

6-2

229

Apex, N.C./Apex

LB

Yawin Smallwood

Connecticut

So.

6-3

235

Worcester, Mass./Doherty

LB

Khaseem Greene *

Rutgers

Sr.

6-1

230

Elizabeth, N.J./Avon Old Farms

CB

Adrian Bushell

Louisville

Sr.

5-11

184

DeSoto, Texas/Cedar Valley CC

CB

Logan Ryan

Rutgers

Jr.

6-0

190

Berlin, N.J./Eastern

S

Duron Harmon

Rutgers

Sr.

6-1

200

Magnolia, Del./Caesar Rodney

S

Shamarko Thomas

Syracuse

Sr.

5-10

206

Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes

P

Brandon McManus

Temple

Sr.

6-3

190

Hatfield, Pa./North Penn

* unanimous selection

ALL-BIG EAST SECOND TEAM

OFFENSE

Pos.

Player

School

Cl.

Ht.

Wt.

Hometown/High School

WR

Mike Shanahan

Pittsburgh

Sr.

6-5

225

North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin

WR

Devin Street

Pittsburgh

Jr.

6-4

190

Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty

WR

Brandon Coleman

Rutgers

So.

6-6

220

Accokeek, Md./Bishop McNamara

OT

Alex Kupper

Louisville

Sr.

6-3

298

Louisville, Ky./Trinity

OT

Kaleb Johnson

Rutgers

So.

6-4

300

Jacksonville, Fla./Edward H. White

OT

Martin Wallace

Temple

Sr.

6-6

300

New York, N.Y./Beacon School

OG

Adam Masters

Connecticut

Sr.

6-4

298

Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman

OG

Mark Popek

USF

Sr.

6-7

299

Plant City, Fla./Plant City

C

Ryan Turnley

Pittsburgh

Sr.

6-6

320

Hopewell, Pa./Hopewell

QB

Ryan Nassib

Syracuse

Gr.

6-3

227

West Chester, Pa./Malvern Prep

TE

Ryan Griffin

Connecticut

Sr.

6-6

247

Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry

RB

George Winn

Cincinnati

Sr.

5-11

210

Southfield, Mich./Detroit Jesuit

RB

Jawan Jamison

Rutgers

So.

5-8

200

Stark, Fla./The Bolles School

K

Brandon McManus

Temple

Sr.

6-3

190

Hatfield, Pa./North Penn

RS

Nick Williams

Connecticut

Sr.</

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