Oklahoma State University Athletics
Four Cowboys Earn Preseason All-Big 12 Football Honors
July 15, 2015 | Cowboy Football
STILLWATER – Three members of the Oklahoma State defense, Emmanuel Ogbah, Ryan Simmons and Kevin Peterson, along with running back Chris Carson, have earned recognition on the 2015 Preseason All-Big 12 football team.
OSU joins Baylor as the only schools with three players selected on the defensive side of the ball. Carson, a running back transfer from Butler County (Kansas) Community College, was named the league's Preseason Newcomer of the Year.
Ogbah is coming off a breakout season, and was recently named to the watch lists for the Rotary Lombardi Award, Chuck Bednarik Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy. In 2014, he became the first OSU player recognized as Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year, was a first-team all-Big 12 honoree by the Associated Press and the coaches and was chosen as the team's 2014 defensive MVP by the OSU coaches.
Ogbah, a junior out of Houston, finished the season third in the Big 12 and 24th nationally in tackles for loss per game (1.3) and second in the Big 12 and 15th nationally in sacks per game (0.85). He recorded 5.5 tackles for loss in the Cowboys' win at Kansas, which set an OSU single-game record and was the most tackles for any player in the country in a single game last season. He also enjoyed a breakthrough performance on a national stage to open 2014 when he had six tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss and two pass-breakups against top-ranked Florida State. The athletic defensive end produced a stretch last season where he recorded at least one sack in six consecutive games.
Simmons, a three-year letterman at linebacker and a Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List member, has 26 starts to his credit heading into his senior season, and will enter 2015 with the most career tackles among all returning OSU players at 189. Included in that total are 25.5 tackles for loss, which also leads the team. He made 96 tackles and had 12.0 for loss last season.
Simmons ranked eighth in the Big 12 with an average of 5.1 solo tackles per game and 13th in the league with 7.4 total tackles per game. Against Baylor, Simmons tallied a season-best 13 tackles, and he added two tackles for loss against both TCU and Texas. OSU's coaches named him the recipient of the team's Vernon Grant Award for spirit and enthusiasm.
Peterson is a veteran of 25 starts at cornerback, and led OSU with 13 passes defended in 2014. The Wagoner, Okla., native racked up 59 total tackles, including a career-high 11 tackles at Baylor. He also broke up a career-best three passes in the win over Texas Tech. His top performance of the year came against West Virginia, where he limited the nation's leading receiver, Kevin White, to three catches for 27 yards. He recorded two interception on the year, the second of which sealed the Cowboys win over Washington in the Cactus Bowl.
Carson rushed for 994 yards and nine touchdowns for Butler CC last season, and was the fourth ranked junior college running back prospect in the country according to 247Sports. His average of 7.2 yards per carry ranked fifth among all junior college players nationwide. The Lilburn, Ga., product tallied five 100-yard games in 2014, including a 183-yard outing against Ellsworth in the season finale. A receiving threat out of the backfield as well, Carson caught 19 passes for 157 yards in his Butler career.
OSU joins Baylor as the only schools with three players selected on the defensive side of the ball. Carson, a running back transfer from Butler County (Kansas) Community College, was named the league's Preseason Newcomer of the Year.
Ogbah is coming off a breakout season, and was recently named to the watch lists for the Rotary Lombardi Award, Chuck Bednarik Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy. In 2014, he became the first OSU player recognized as Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year, was a first-team all-Big 12 honoree by the Associated Press and the coaches and was chosen as the team's 2014 defensive MVP by the OSU coaches.
Ogbah, a junior out of Houston, finished the season third in the Big 12 and 24th nationally in tackles for loss per game (1.3) and second in the Big 12 and 15th nationally in sacks per game (0.85). He recorded 5.5 tackles for loss in the Cowboys' win at Kansas, which set an OSU single-game record and was the most tackles for any player in the country in a single game last season. He also enjoyed a breakthrough performance on a national stage to open 2014 when he had six tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss and two pass-breakups against top-ranked Florida State. The athletic defensive end produced a stretch last season where he recorded at least one sack in six consecutive games.
Simmons, a three-year letterman at linebacker and a Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List member, has 26 starts to his credit heading into his senior season, and will enter 2015 with the most career tackles among all returning OSU players at 189. Included in that total are 25.5 tackles for loss, which also leads the team. He made 96 tackles and had 12.0 for loss last season.
Simmons ranked eighth in the Big 12 with an average of 5.1 solo tackles per game and 13th in the league with 7.4 total tackles per game. Against Baylor, Simmons tallied a season-best 13 tackles, and he added two tackles for loss against both TCU and Texas. OSU's coaches named him the recipient of the team's Vernon Grant Award for spirit and enthusiasm.
Peterson is a veteran of 25 starts at cornerback, and led OSU with 13 passes defended in 2014. The Wagoner, Okla., native racked up 59 total tackles, including a career-high 11 tackles at Baylor. He also broke up a career-best three passes in the win over Texas Tech. His top performance of the year came against West Virginia, where he limited the nation's leading receiver, Kevin White, to three catches for 27 yards. He recorded two interception on the year, the second of which sealed the Cowboys win over Washington in the Cactus Bowl.
Carson rushed for 994 yards and nine touchdowns for Butler CC last season, and was the fourth ranked junior college running back prospect in the country according to 247Sports. His average of 7.2 yards per carry ranked fifth among all junior college players nationwide. The Lilburn, Ga., product tallied five 100-yard games in 2014, including a 183-yard outing against Ellsworth in the season finale. A receiving threat out of the backfield as well, Carson caught 19 passes for 157 yards in his Butler career.
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