Nov. 22, 2005
2005 All-Big Ten Football Teams
Download Free Acrobat Reader
EVANSTON, Ill. -- For the fifth time in school history, a Northwestern quarterback has been recognized by the Big Ten Conference as a first-team honoree.
Senior signal caller Brett Basanez (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator), one of nine Northwestern players to receive all-conference recognition this year, was tabbed the Big Ten's first-team all-conference quarterback by both the coaches and media. In addition, Basanez was tabbed the media's Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. (Penn State's Michael Robinson earned the same award from the coaches.)
It is the first time since the Big Ten began awarding player-of-the-year honors in 1982 that Northwestern has been bestowed an offensive honoree. (Pat Fitzgerald was NU's only other player of the year, earning defensive honors in 1995 and '96.) Basanez joins Marshall Underhill (1918), Fred Vanzo (1936), Maurie Daigneau (1971) and Steve Schnur (1996) as NU's only first-team All-Big Ten quarterback selections.
"I'm very pleased for Brett," said NU coach Randy Walker. "He's worked extremely hard in all facets of the game to become a top-flight quarterback. I can't say enough good things about his leadership and guidance with our football team."
Basanez, who also was tabbed Northwestern's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipient, led the league in passing yards (291.5 ypg), completions (25.1 pg) and total offense (327.0 ypg). All three of those marks are single-season bests at Northwestern. He also established a new single-season mark for passing efficiency (139.6) and could break additional records in the Wildcats' upcoming bowl game.
The Davey O'Brien semifinalist and Unitas Golden Arm finalist is currently college football's active leading passer (10,164 yards) and is just the third Big Ten player to surpass the 10,000-yard mark for all-time yards. With 36 more rushing yards, he will become the first player in NCAA Division I-A history to total 10,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards. Basanez ranks 17th on the NCAA's all-time total offense list (11,128). He is 32nd on the all-time passing list.
Joining Basanez as a player of the year was freshman running back Tyrell Sutton (Akron, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban), who was named the consensus Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Sutton joined offensive tackle Zach Strief (Milford, Ohio/Milford) and linebacker Tim McGarigle (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick) as consensus second-team Big Ten selections.
Sutton led all freshmen nationally in rushing yardage (126.4 ypg), scoring (108 points) and touchdowns (18). His 1,390 rushing yards is the fourth-best single-season total in NU history. Sutton shattered every Northwestern freshman running back mark
Three other Northwestern players picked up second-team All-Big Ten honors from one of the two teams: defensive tackle Barry Cofield (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) by the coaches, wide receiver Mark Philmore (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) by the coaches, and cornerback Marquice Cole (Hazel Crest, Ill./Hillcrest) by the media.
Senior safety Herschel Henderson (Houston, Texas/Clear Lake) was a consensus honorable mention selection, while Cofield (media), Cole (coaches) and Shaun Herbert (Oxon Hill, Md./Bishop McNamara) (media) were named to one of the two honorable mention squads.