University of Massachusets Athletics
Football's Valdamar Brower Earns Preseason All-America Honors
July 02, 2002 | Football
July 2, 2002
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - University of Massachusetts junior defensive tackle Valdamar Brower (Florence, Mass.) has been selected as a 2002 preseason first team All-American by The Sports Network. Brower was also ranked as the second-best returning defensive tackle in the nation.
Last season, Brower earned All-America honors from The Sports Network (second team), the Associated Press (third team) and Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette (first team), in addition to being a first team All Atlantic 10 Conference, All-New England and All-ECAC selection. He led the team in both tackles for loss (24 for 97 yards) and quarterback sacks (10 for 70 yards) on the year, with his total for sacks ranking as the sixth-best mark in the school history. He also finished the year as the Atlantic 10's leader in both sacks and tackles for loss. In addition, Brower totaled 57 tackles, seven quarterback hurries, three pass breakups, two blocked field goals and an interception this season. During the first two years of his UMass career, Brower had 114 total tackles, including 15 sacks and 35 tackles for loss.
The Minutemen will open the 2002 season on Saturday, Sept. 7, when they play host to Central Connecticut State in at 1:00 p.m. game at Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
The complete 2002 preseason All-America teams selected by The Sports Network follow.
THE SPORTS NETWORK 2002 PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA OFFENSE .
First-Team School Pos. Cl. Ht. Wt. Tony Romo Eastern Illinois QB Sr. 6-3 204 Ryan Johnson Montana State RB Sr. 6-0 210 P.J. Mays Youngstown State RB Sr. 5-9 206 Chas Gessner Brown WR Sr. 6-5 200 Carl Morris Harvard WR Sr. 6-3 210 Chris Coleman Alabama State TE Sr. 6-3 235 Jeff Santacroce Lehigh C Sr. 6-3 290 Kevin Hill Eastern Illinois G Sr. 6-3 285 Kris Price Western Kentucky G Sr. 6-0 290 Dwight Beard William & Mary T Sr. 6-4 315 Chad Setterstrom Northern Iowa T Sr. 6-3 296 Mac Hoambrecker Northern Iowa K Sr. 6-0 196 Curtis DeLoatch North Carolina A&T RS Jr. 6-3 205
Second-Team School Pos. Cl. Ht. Wt. Juston Wood Portland State QB Sr. 6-1 192 C.J. Hudson Eastern Kentucky RB So. 5-7 200 Stephan Lewis New Hampshire RB Sr. 5-8 200 Michael Hayes Southern WR Sr. 6-5 220 Rich Musinski William & Mary WR Jr. 6-1 195 Steve Farmer Tennessee State TE Sr. 6-5 255 Kareem Sanders North Carolina A&T C So. 6-3 325 Gary Jenkins Southern G Sr. 6-3 290 Kevin Noone Dartmouth G Sr. 6-3 260 Mike Brigandi Hofstra T Sr. 6-3 321 Mike Bujnak Eastern Illinois T So. 6-5 288 Brian Morgan Grambling State K So. 5-10 185 Brian Bratton Furman RS So. 5-11 175
Honorable Mention QB: Robert Kent, Jackson State (Jr., 6-5, 205); RB: Tom Koutsos, Southern Illinois (Sr., 5-10, 218), J.R. Taylor, Eastern Illinois (Sr., 6-2, 215); WR: Aryvia Holmes, Samford (Sr., 5-9, 172), Cecil Moore, East Tennessee State (Sr., 6-3, 218); TE: Casey Cramer, Dartmouth (Jr., 6-2, 235); C: Chris Royle, Lafayette (Sr., 6-3, 285); G: Nate Frowsing, St. Mary,s (CA) (Sr., 6-2, 290); Erik Steiner, Hampton (Sr., 6-3, 300); T: Chase Denton, Sam Houston State (Sr., 6-6, 318); Josh Rowan, Elon (Sr., 5-11, 280); K: Shane Andrus, Murray State (Jr., 5-10, 170); RS: Jerald Burley, Youngstown State (Sr., 5-10, 170)
THE SPORTS NETWORK 2002 PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA DEFENSE
First-Team School Pos. Cl. Ht. Wt. D.J. Bleisath Tennessee Tech DE Sr. 6-4 255 Josh Jeffries Appalachian State DE Sr. 6-2 265 Valdamar Brower Massachusetts DT Jr. 6-5 258 Freddy Pesqueira Georgia Southern DT Sr. 6-1 250 Stephen Cooper Maine LB Sr. 6-1 218 Erik Dandy Western Kentucky LB Jr. 6-0 205 Nick Ricks Eastern Illinois LB Jr. 5-11 219 Tracy White Howard LB Sr. 6-0 230 Jon Ambrose St. Peter,s S Sr. 5-10 180 David Young Georgia Southern S Sr. 6-2 205 Chris Brown Grambling State CB Sr. 6-1 200 Tony Tiller East Tennessee State CB Jr. 6-1 185 Eddie Johnson Idaho State P Sr. 6-4 225
Second-Team School Pos. Cl. Ht. Wt. Sean Kelly Florida A&M DE So. 6-1 218 Ahmad Willis Northwestern State DE Sr. 6-1 255 Marcus Adams Eastern Kentucky DT Sr. 5-11 278 Nathan Fuqua Wofford DT Sr. 6-2 285 Dante Balestracci Harvard LB Jr. 6-2 230 Matt McFadden Weber State LB Jr. 6-2 225 Dan Mulhern Delaware LB Sr. 6-3 222 Greg Pitts Southwest Texas LB Sr. 6-4 230 Hadley Prince McNeese State S Sr. 5-9 195 Ameer Riley Colgate S Sr. 6-0 193 Santino Hall Texas Southern CB Sr. 6-1 185 Joey Thomas Montana State CB Jr. 6-2 185 David Beckford Alabama State P Sr. 6-0 185
Honorable Mention: DE: Jared Allen, Idaho State (Sr., 6-7, 270); Earl Cochran, Alabama State (Sr., 6-4, 225), DT: Robert Hamre, Northern Iowa (Sr., 6-4, 283); Jonny Varona, Montana (So., 6-3, 270); LB: David Dugan, Holy Cross (Sr., 6-2, 220); Fred Miller, Eastern Illinois (Jr., 6-1, 215); Keith O,Neil, Northern Arizona (Sr., 6-1, 227); Derrick Wheeler, Samford (Jr., 6-0, 182) S: Kevin Kongslie, Princeton (Sr., 6-0, 180), Rashean Mathis, Bethune-Cookman (Sr., 6-2, 185); CB: Terrence McGee, Northwestern State (Jr., 5-10, 188), Deon Rheubottom, Delaware State (So., 5-9, 195); P: Richie Rhodes, Jacksonville State (So., 6-1, 195)
