Thursday, December 10, 2009

Warren Norman makes the SEC All-Freshman team... twice


Despite a rough season, Vandy landed four players on the SEC All-Freshman team. Well, that's if you count Warren Norman, who won SEC Freshman of the Year from both the coaches and the AP, twice:

• Warren Norman, RB, true freshman: Norman the runner led all SEC freshman running backs with 783 yards. He also had three rushing touchdowns, two of them against Western Carolina.

• Warren Norman, RS, true freshman: Norman the return specialist gained more than 1,000 yards and scored three touchdowns. His kick returns are what propelled him past Herschel Walker to become the SEC's all-time leader for all-purpose yards gained by a freshman.

• Ryan Seymour, OL, redshirt freshman: The converted defensive end was likely named to the team on the strength of his start in the Florida game against the Gators' hulking defensive ends. Expect him to step in for the departed Thomas Welch at left tackle.

• Ryan Fowler, PK, redshirt freshman (unanimous selection): Repeats the accomplishment of his predecessor, Bryant Hahnfeldt, who in 2005 was named to the All-Freshman team. So I guess Fowler will start four seasons and end his career with a bowl-winning field goal.

Going into next season, Vanderbilt has seven players who've made All-Freshman in the SEC. In addition to this year's class of Norman, Seymour and Fowler, there's last year's class of tight end Brandon Barden, offensive lineman Kyle Fischer, defensive lineman T.J. Greenstone and linebacker Chris Marve, who like Fowler was a unanimous selection.

Of those seven guys, only Warren Norman was a true freshman.

In the previous two seasons, the Commodores had only one player make the freshman team — D.J. Moore in 2006.

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