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University of Minnesota Athletics
Decker To Speak at Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon
7/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
An address by Minnesota wide receiver Eric Decker will highlight the 2009 Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon, slated for July 28 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. Decker will speak on behalf of the 33 players in attendance at the luncheon.
The Big Ten Conference has announced the 33 student-athletes scheduled to attend the 2009 Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon. The 38th annual event, which also features all 11 Big Ten head coaches, begins at 10 a.m. CT with the players and coaches taking part in an autograph and photo session for fans attending the luncheon. The luncheon is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. CT, with comments from all 11 coaches and Decker, a returning All-Big Ten wide receiver.
In addition to Decker, Minnesota will be represented by two of its other captains at the 2009 Big Ten Kickoff. Senior defensive lineman Garrett Brown and senior linebacker Lee Campbell will also be in attendance at the event.
The list of student-athletes scheduled to attend includes 17 former All-Big Ten selections, including nine first-team honorees from a year ago. The list also includes three standouts who were recognized as their respective teams’ Most Valuable Players last season.
Scheduled to attend from last year’s All-Conference first team are Illinois’ Arrelious Benn, Indiana’s Jammie Kirlew, Michigan’s Zoltan Mesko, Michigan State’s Greg Jones, Minnesota’s Decker, Northwestern’s Corey Wootton, Penn State’s Daryll Clark and Jared Odrick and Wisconsin’s Garrett Graham. Benn, Kirlew and Wootton were named MVPs of their respective teams following the conclusion of last season.
Also among the list of attendees are eight players who received either second-team or honorable mention All-Big Ten recognition in the last two years: Illinois’ Juice Williams, Iowa’s Pat Angerer and A.J. Edds, Michigan State’s Brett Swenson and Blair White, Northwestern’s Brad Phillips, Ohio State’s Kurt Coleman and Penn State’s Sean Lee, who was a second-team pick in 2007 before missing last year with an injury.
Rounding out the list of student-athletes scheduled to appear at the Kickoff Luncheon are Illinois’ Doug Pilcher, Indiana’s Ben Chappell and Will Patterson, Iowa’s Tony Moeaki, Michigan’s Stevie Brown and Mark Ortmann, Minnesota’s Brown and Campbell, Northwestern’s Mike Kafka, Ohio State’s Jake Ballard and Doug Worthington, Purdue’s Joey Elliott, Mike Neal and Keith Smith and Wisconsin’s Jaevery McFadden and O’Brien Schofield. The complete list of attendees can be found below.
The Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon annually draws some of the most interesting and talented names in college sports. The list of former Kickoff Luncheon attendees includes coaching legends like Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes, along with each of the Big Ten's Heisman Trophy winners since 1970 - Archie Griffin, Desmond Howard, Eddie George, Charles Woodson, Ron Dayne and the conference’s most recent winner, Troy Smith. In all, more than 700 of the conference's finest players, more than 50 head coaches and nearly 42,000 supporters have made the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon a yearly stop in their preseason college football schedules.
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