Leman named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week
November 21, 2006
Illinois linebacker J Leman earned three big honors this week, picking up his second Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award and earning nods as an All-Big Ten player and a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree.
The Big Ten announced Monday that Leman had been chosen as the Defensive Player of the Week after a 22-tackle performance against Northwestern. On Tuesday Illinois’ starting middle linebacker picked up a spot on the coaches second-team All-Conference list and a first-team nod from media covering the Big Ten.
Leman is Illinois’ and the Big Ten’s leading tackler, averaging 12.7 tackles per game and 13.4 in Big Ten play alone. Leman’s numbers are the second-best in the nation. His 22 defensive stops against the Wildcats tie the best in the NCAA this season.
“I figured most awards would come out of the No. 1 and 2 teams in the nation playing each other,” Leman said Monday of winning the Player of the Week award. “But I guess they didn’t play as much defense as people expected.”
Leman broke into Illinois’ top-10 season tackles list on Saturday, adding to the 130 he had already accumulated. His 152 tackles this season is the sixth-highest single-season total in Illinois history. He knocked Dick Butkus off the top-10 list.
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Leman is a Champaign native who just finished his junior season of eligibility. He finished his degree in Speech Communications last August, and is now working on a masters. He earned his first Defensive Player of the Week award on Nov. 6.
“J’s a special guy, if you know j the person, it’s easy to understand why he’s the kind of football player he is,” Illinois coach Ron Zook said. “He’s intelligent, he studies the game, does everything he can.”
Four other Illini were recognized as All-Conference honorable mentions. Freshman cornerback Vontae Davis and junior kicker Jason Reda made both the coaches and the media honorable mention lists. The conference coaches also recognized senior running back Pierre Thomas, while the media voted senior corner back Alan Ball onto the honorable mention list.
