Luigs anchors 3 to make All-SEC

BY TOM MURPHY

Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008

URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/232043/

FAYETTEVILLE — If the coaches’ preseason All-SEC team is any indication, there won’t be high expectations for the Arkansas Razorbacks this football season.

SEC coaches picked three All-SEC teams on offense, defense and special teams, and only three Razorbacks made the squads, led by first-team center Jonathan Luigs. Defending national champion LSU had a league-high 14 players on the All-SEC teams, followed by Florida (10 ) and Georgia (9 ).

A two-time preseason All-SEC pick by the coaches, Luigs is the reigning winner of the Rimington Trophy, which is given to the nation’s best center. The senior out of Pulaski Academy, a preseason All-American, was one of just six unanimous selections to the first team.

Senior guard Mitch Petrus was a second-team selection on offense, and senior Antwain Robinson was a second-team pick on defense. Petrus, of Carlisle, has helped the Arkansas line earn the reputation as the strongest unit on the 2008 club. Petrus was selected the SEC offensive lineman of the week after the Hogs gained 541 rushing yards in a 48-36 victory over South Carolina in Week 9 last season. Robinson, a Little Rock Central product, is one of the SEC’s biggest defensive playmakers. The 6-2, 258-pounder has scored three touchdowns at Arkansas, including a fumble return against Kentucky and an interception return against Mississippi State last season. Robinson ranks seventh among returning players with 35 tackles last season. He also had 3

1 sacks for 37 yards and 5 / 2 tackles for loss. Arkansas’ three selections ranked 11 th in the SEC, ahead of only Vanderbilt, which had two players picked.

By comparison, Arkansas had 11 players selected for 12 positions last season on the preseason All-SEC team picked by coaches.

Stuttgart native Brett Helms of LSU made the squad as a second-team center behind Luigs for the second consecutive year.