UH Football Picked to Win C-USA West

The head coaches believe it will be a rematch of the 2007 C-USA Championship Game as Southern Miss was picked to win the East Division after tallying 69 points, the most by any school. East Carolina finished second in the voting with 48 points, while UCF was third with 47.

Individually, the Cougars placed a team-high five members on the Preseason Team with two on offense, two on defense and one on special teams. Senior offensive lineman Jeff Akeroyd was tabbed on the offensive front. Akeroyd moved to left tackle a year ago and helped lead the Cougars to the league's No. 1 offense with 446.1 yards and 33.0 points per game on the way to being named to the All-Conference USA Second Team. Earlier this summer, he was named to the Outland Trophy Award Watch List.

Senior Donnie Avery also was named to the Preseason Team. Avery was a steady offensive performer for the Cougars throughout the 2006 season, racking up 57 catches for 852 - both second best on the team - and five touchdowns.

On the defensive side of the ball, junior lineman Phillip Hunt was one of two Cougar honorees. The Fort Worth native, who was named to the 2006 All-Conference USA Second Team, led all Cougar defenders with eight sacks and 12 tackles for a loss of 37 yards.

Junior defensive back Kenneth Fontenette made the transition to cornerback in 2006, starting all 14 games. The Pflugerville native ranked fifth on the team with 72 tackles, including 56 solo stops, and topped all players with 13 pass breakups.

Junior kicker Ben Bell was selected as the Preseason First-Team kicker. In 2006, the Stephenville native won back the kicking job early in the season and never gave it up on the way to All-Conference USA Second-Team honors.

Bell connected on 14-of-18 field goal attempts while nailing all but two of his 51 PAT attempts. He would finish as the team's leading scorer with 93 points.

Volleyball’s Farmer Named to 2007 Preseason All C-USA Team

Junior outside hitter Justine Farmer was recently named to the 2007 Preseason All-C-USA Team by the conference office. Farmer will look to lead a young team this season with 10 underclassmen joining the squad this fall. The El Paso native is 98 kills away from ranking in the school's all-time top 10 kills leader list and just 125 digs away from joining the 1,000 kill 1,000 dig club. Farmer is the only player in C-USA to rank in the Top 10 in kills and digs in two consecutive seasons and is 320 kills away from ranking in the C-USA all-time top 25 list.

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