December
12, 2003
NORTHERN
ILLINOIS TB MICHAEL TURNER MAKES FOUR ALL-AMERICA UNITS, PK STEVE
AZAR DOES ONE
DeKALB, IL
--- Not a bad stretch for “The Burner”, eh? You bet. Northern
Illinois University senior tailback Michael Turner just went
four-for-four this week.
The Huskies’
all-time career rusher was selected to his second, third, and fourth
All-America squads in four days---making (2) Honorable Mention Rivals.com
All-America, (3) Second-Team CNN-Sports Illustrated.com All-America,
and (4) Honorable Mention Collegefootballnews.com All-America---after
winning (1) Second-Team All-America honors earlier this week from
The Sporting News. “The Burner” made five
“major All-America units as a junior in 2002.
In addition,
Northern Illinois senior placekicker Steve Azar was named
All-America for the second time---garnering Honorable Mention status
from Collegefootballnews.com. In 2001, he made Honorable Mention
Football News All-America.
“To be
honest, Michael deserves this type of national recognition and,
probably, a little more,” said Northern Illinois head football
coach Joe Novak. “You’re preaching to the choir.
He had a tremendous career here, particularly the last two seasons
when he ran for 3,500-plus yards. All this year, we were playing
against defenses with eight or nine men in the box and that’s
the ultimate tribute to Michael’s running abilities and his
reputation. People were geared to stop him first. To his credit,
Michael still got his yardage and we won 10 ball games. What more
can a coach ask? Steve Azar was just as productive as Michael as
a placekicker. What great career numbers Steve generated for us
the last four years.”
The 5-foot-10,
232-pound Turner (North Chicago) was the lone Mid-American Conference
representative on the 63-player 2003 Rivals.com All-America unit
this season. Runningbacks Darren Sproles of Kansas State
and Chris Perry of Michigan won First-Team All-America honors
while Kevin Jones of Virginia Tech and Derrick Knight
of Boston College were cited on the Rivals.com Honorable Mention
list with “The Burner.”
Sproles and
Perry earned First-Team All-America status from CNN-Sports Illustrated.com,
followed by Jones and Turner as Second-Team All-America picks. “The
Burner” and fellow Second-Team All-America defensive end Jason
Babin from Western Michigan were the only Mid-Am performers
among the 2003 CNN-SI.com top 60 players. Four MAC stars were Honorable
Mention All-America picks---Miami (OH) quarterback Ben Roethlisberger
and kick return specialist Ryne Robinson, Bowling Green State
defensive back Janssen Patton, plus Central Florida punter
Matt Prater.
On the 2003
Collegefootballnews.com All-America squad, Perry and Sproles were
named on the first-team, followed by DonTrell Moore of New
Mexico State and Marion Barber III of Minnesota on the second-team,
Cedric Benson of Texas and Jones on the third-team, plus
Turner, Carnell Williams of Auburn, DeAngelo Williams
of Memphis, and Steven Jackson of Oregon State on the honorable
mention unit.
Six other Mid-Am
standouts made the Collegefootballnews.com All-America list, topped
by WMU’s Babin on the second unit. BGSU’s Patton and UCF’s
Prater were on the third team. Azar, Roethlisberger, and BeeGee
quarterback Josh Harris were tabbed in the honorable mention
category. Four loop players were ranked among Collegefootballnews.com’s
“100 Best Players of 2003”---Roethlisberger at No. 7 nationally,
Harris at No. 26, Babin at No. 29, and “The Burner” at
No. 39.
With his 4,941
career rushing yards during 2000-03, Turner wound up No. 1 on the
Northern Illinois all-time ground-gaining list, No. 2 all-time in
Mid-Am annals, and No. 13 in major-college football history. “The
Burner” set numerous school records---including 21 career 100-yard
rushing performances and nine MAC Player of the Week citations.
In 2003, Turner repeated as a First-Team All-Mid-Am pick via the
loop’s head coaches and finished runner-up in the league’s
Offensive Player of the Year and Vern Smith Leadership Award balloting
for the second season in a row. Turner was also a two-time Doak
Walker National Runningback Award semifinalist (2002, 2003).
In addition
to winning his second Mid-Am Special Teams Player of the Year award
this month, Azar (Colorado Springs, CO / Highlands Ranch) became
NIU’s first four-time All-MAC gridiron performer (first-team
in both 2001 and 2003, second-team in 2002, and honorable mention
in 2000). The 5-7, 195-pound soccer-style kicker set league records
for career kick-scoring points (370) and field goals (73) and holds
at least 15 Northern Illinois major records. Azar was a two-time
semi-finalist for the Lou Groza National Placekicker Award (2001,
2003) and posted an NIU-record 104 kick-scoring points this fall.
(For further
information, please contact Mike Korcek) -NIU-
