Frank he-mann Okam and Justin Blalock Playboy AA

[mookie2001]

http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=40&url_article_id=2079&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2


05/12/2006



Blalock, Okam named preseason All-America by Playboy

http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/image_lib/okam_blalock_051206_300.jpghttp://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/img/spacer.gif

AUSTIN, Texas -- University of Texas senior OT Justin Blalock and junior DT Frank Okam will be honored this weekend as members of the 50th Annual Playboy Preseason All-America Football team. It marks the sixth-straight year UT has had two players recognized as part of the prestigious team that was first selected in 1957.

The Longhorn duo will traveled to Phoenix on Friday, May 12, to join the other members of the squad for a weekend of events, fun competition and the annual photo shoot.

UT has now had a Playboy Preseason All-American 45 (42 players/three head coaches) times since the team was first honored in 1957. Blalock is the 13th Longhorn offensive lineman and Okam is the eighth defensive lineman to be named to the squad, and it will be the second-straight year Texas has had an OT/DT tandem, following OT Jonathan Scott and DT Rod Wright in 2005. Those are the two most-represented positions by UT players on the annual preseason team, outnumbering the five running backs the Horns have had selected.

The Longhorns have had at least one player chosen to the team in each of the past nine seasons, including two players on each of the last six squads. Among that group, Scott (2005), Wright (2005), RB Cedric Benson (2004), LB Derrick Johnson (2003-04), OG Derrick Dockery (2002), DE Cory Redding (2002), CB Quentin Jammer (2001), OT Mike Williams (2001), OT Leonard Davis (2000) and RB Ricky Williams (1998) have all earned post-season first-team All-America honors.

Blalock is a top 2006 Outland Trophy and NFL prospect, and elected to return to UT for his senior year. He has started all 38 games of his career at right tackle, during which time UT has averaged 268.9 yards rushing and 471.9 yards of offense per game. The Horns have also rushed for at least 300 yards 12 times during that stretch. Blalock was named third-team All-America by The Associated Press in 2005, when he was a key part of a line that helped Texas rank first in the nation in scoring offense (50.2 ppg), second in rushing offense (274.9 ypg) and third in total offense (512.1 ypg), while setting school single-season records in both points scored (652) and total yards (6,657).

A Lombardi Trophy candidate, Okam has played in 25 career games (14 starts) and recorded 70 tackles, three sacks, 11 TFL, 20 pressures, seven PBD and forced three fumbles. He started all 13 games in 2005 and earned second-team All-Big 12 honors from the league's coaches. He more than doubled the production from his freshman year with 48 tackles, five TFL, 11 pressures, one sack, two PBD and two fumble recoveries, one of which was recovered in the end zone for a TD. Okam earned first-team Freshman All-America honors from The Sporting News as a true freshman in 2004.

[Horry For 3!]

Frank Okam :tu

[degenerate_gambler]

...and the beat goes on.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Frank Okam, lol remember when the dude announcing the rosebowl pronounced it "Oh-KAM" and then the old guy was like "it's okum"

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Frank Okam :tu


-Horry

[mookie2001]

Okams the shit because he was a TOP recruit who more than lived up to the hype, impact player as a freshman, took Dibbles' job when Dibbles was a senior, and a playboy all american after 2 seasons, plus he makes me and tpark look like look like alvarez


and he's from Texas (the state of)


I'm really only scared of 2 nonfederal things

1. trying to sell dope in Port Arthur Texas
2. If okam got mad at me

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Dibbles is a fucking bust, waste of space

he didnt even get drafted
he's a failure

Okam makes bo malette look like daren sproles

[Mr Dio]

Miller & Lokey should be pretty good in that DT rotation as well.

[mookie2001]

elpimpo you sold out

[mookie2001]

from Franklin



I consider it an honor to be one of the few underclassmen selected to the Playboy All-American team. Honestly, it came to me as a shock. Just being here around all of this great talent, these great athletes, and people who are well-known across the nation, just to be mentioned among them is an honor, and it's very humbling.

Coming here today, we had a very long plane ride and we got delayed a couple of hours, which kind of got things off to the wrong start, but we bounced back and got here. Everyone here was very warm and receptive, and it made you forget about the long plane ride. Then, Justin and I went to the golf course, and I don't know how to swing a golf club at all. I think the farthest one I hit might have gone 50 yards, straight line, no loft, no air, nothing. After that, we went back to the room and Justin hopped in the pool for a little bit, and I took a shower. We watched the (Heat-Nets) game for a little while, and just passed out before dinner and the competition, where my team, the Giants, got third place, although I thought we should have won. I think we lost out on a few of the points, but the competition ranged from pop-a-shot to golf swings to throwing a football, and even ping pong, which my team got first place in. Overall, it was a lot of things you don't normally do on a football field, and our team did well.

Rod Wright was here last year and told me how initially, everyone just keeps to themselves, especially if they have someone from their team with them, they just stick together. As you spend more time around people, you loosen up, and you realize they're just football players and regular people like you are. Slowly, but surely, when you have to split up in teams and you have to interact with people, you can't help but get to know them. Competition brings out the best in people, so you have to have your competitive juices flowing, and just seeing how some of the best people in the nation at their positions interact with each other is great. I'm just fortunate to be a part of it.

Coming in, I knew Ted Ginn and Adrian Peterson and Zach Miller from the All-America Game in high school, so all of us have already hit it off pretty well, plus I came with Justin, so that made the transition easier. HB Blades, a linebacker from Pitt, was on my team tonight, and I've gotten to know Brandon Meriweather from Miami and Quentin Moses from Georgia.

It's also really interesting to compare how things are at different schools. I've been talking to Troy (Smith) and Ted, and they were talking about how it is at Ohio State, and how they lost to us. They didn't like talking about that, but it's always good to hear (laughing). Ted also talked about how he played defensive back in high school and he's playing wide receiver now and is learning the nuances of that. Adrian talked about the situation up there, just trying to get a healthy line, and how he's just trying to get healthy, things he's struggling with trying to get back. Plus, you just hear how coaches are different across the country, how situations are different, how practices are structured different with each university. I may be a little biased, but I think Texas is the best university of all of the guys I've talked to.

I can't count how many times I've been asked about my ring today. I guess everyone was expecting me to wear it. I'll wear it tomorrow since everyone wants to see it, but I didn't want to take a chance on hurting anyone's feelings today though.

Right now, the day's coming to a close and some of the guys are just trying to figure out what we're going to do for the rest of the night. It looks like we're just going to have a night in the hotel catching up with everyone. It will be interesting to se what they have in store for us tomorrow.

Hook 'em,
Frank

[MissAllThat]

I'm really only scared of 2 nonfederal things

2. If okam got mad at me

If you were able to somehow make Frank mad at you, I'd be scared for you also. He's a pretty nice guy, always laughing, so its hard to imagine him getting mad, but trust me if you did, I'd be scared for you too.

[mookie2001]

how do you know franklin?

[MissAllThat]

how do you know franklin?

school, same way i know a lot of the players

[MissAllThat]

^I still find that funny considering how much those boys wear their rings. They never seem embarrassed to have them on or try to hide them when they're on campus. Nice to see they're considerate of the other player's feelings.