University of Minnesota Athletics
Barber, Kucek Earn All-Big Ten Honors
11/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Senior safety Dominique Barber (Plymouth, Minn.) and junior punter Justin Kucek (Canfield, Ohio) earned second team All-Big Ten honors, while senior offensive linemen Tony Brinkhaus (Bloomington, Minn.) and Steve Shidell (Coon Rapids, Minn.) picked up honorable mention accolades as the Big Ten announced its 2007 all-conference teams Monday night.
Barber, an honorable mention all-league choice by the media as a junior in 2006, was a unanimous second-team pick by both the coaches and the media after leading the Golden Gophers and ranking ninth in the Big Ten with 100 total tackles.
The first Minnesota safety to earn all-league accolades since Jack Brewer was named to the media’s first team in 2001, Barber led or tied for the team lead in tackles in four of 12 games this season and finished with double-figure stops four times. Barber also recovered three fumbles, including one he returned for a 46-yard touchdown at Michigan, and had seven pass break-ups on the year.
A second-team selection by the media and an honorable mention pick by the league’s coaches, Kucek lead the Big Ten and ranked 24th nationally in punting with a 42.7-yard average on 62 punts.
Kucek, whose punting average ranks as the third best in Minnesota single-season history, also placed 21 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line and forced 14 fair catches during the 2007 campaign. He becomes the first Gopher punter to pick up first or second team all-conference honors since Preston Gruening was a second-team choice in 2000.
Brinkhaus and Shidell, who earlier this season both earn CoSIDA Academic All-District honors, continued Minnesota’s tradition of All-Big Ten offensive linemen with their honorable mention selection by the media. Key components of a unit that yielded just 13 sacks on 467 pass attempts and ranked 10th in the NCAA in sacks allowed this season, Brinkhaus and Shidell helped the Gophers average over 400 yards of total offense for the fourth time in the last five years. Their selections also mark the fourth time in the past five years that a Minnesota offensive lineman has received some measure of All-Big Ten recognition.
The final Gopher to be recognized by the Big Ten Monday night was senior running back Amir Pinnix (Newark, N.J.). Despite having his season limited by injuries, Pinnix finished 2007 as the Gophers’ No. 2 rusher with 563 yards and was named as one of 11 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honorees.
