 
Sweed, Dallas Griffin named preseason All-America by Playboy
AUSTIN, Texas -- University of Texas seniors WR Limas Sweed and C Dallas Griffin will be honored this weekend as members of the 51st Annual Playboy Preseason All-America Football team. It marks the seventh-straight year UT has had two players recognized as part of the prestigious team that was first selected in 1957. The Longhorn duo will travel to Phoenix on Friday, May 11, to join the other members of the squad for a weekend of events, fun competition and the annual photo shoot. UT has now had 47 Playboy Preseason All-America selections (45 players/three head coaches) in the team's history. Sweed becomes the third Longhorn wide receiver named to the squad, joining Roy Williams (2003) and Johnny "Lam" Jones (1979). Griffin was selected to the team as the Anson Mount Scholar/Athlete, honoring the nation's premier student-athlete in football since 1987. He is the second Longhorn to receive that honor, following TE Pat Fitzgerald in 1996. Every NCAA Division I school has the opportunity to nominate a player with a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average. Griffin will be presented with the honor this weekend, and along with the award, Playboy will present UT with a check for $5,000 for its general scholarship fund in Griffin's honor. The Longhorns have had at least one player chosen to the team in each of the past 10 seasons, including two players on each of the last seven squads. Among that group, OT Justin Blalock (2006), OT Jonathan Scott (2005), DT Rodrique 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 postseason first-team All-America honors. Sweed elected to bypass the NFL Draft and return to UT for his senior season and is one of the top candidates for the 2007 Biletnikoff Award, honoring the nation's top receiver. A two-time All-Big 12 honoree, he enters 2007 having started 33 consecutive games. For his career, he has recorded 105 catches (No. 8 on UT's all-time list) for 1,609 yards (No. 7 on UT's all-time list) and 17 TDs (No. 2 on UT's all-time list) in 37 games. In 2006, Sweed started all 13 games and led the team with 46 catches for 801 yards and 12 TDs (T-No. 1 on UT's single-season list). He caught a TD pass in 10 of those games and broke Roy Williams' school record by catching a TD pass in seven consecutive games, Griffin has played in 22 games as the backup center during his career and will take over the starting job in 2007 following the graduation of Lyle Sendlein, who has signed with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. He is a three-time first-team Academic All-Big 12 selection, has posted a perfect 4.0 GPA six times and graduated with a degree in honors business, majoring in finance, in spring 2007. He begins coursework in UT's prestigious Red McCombs MBA Program this fall. In 2006, he appeared in eight games as the primary backup at center. He earned UT's Lan Hewlett Academic Award and shared the Lowe's Most Improved Offensive Player Award. He helped Texas gain 162.6 rushing yards per game (34th NCAA), 391.5 total yards per game (23rd NCAA) and score 35.9 points per game (seventh NCAA).
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