PowerMizzou.com - Short leads Purdue's list of league honorees

November 28, 2011

GoldandBlack.com staff
GoldandBlack.com

Purdue coaches and teammates often talk about Kawann Short's potential to be a dominant player.

At times this season - like in Purdue's win over Ohio State - the junior defensive tackle was just that.

Because of it, Short was Purdue's lone representative Monday night among those players named first-team All-Big Ten.

Short ranked among league leaders with 17 tackles for loss and six-and-a-half sacks during the regular season, which concluded with Purdue being bowl-eligible for the first time since 2007. Short also forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and blocked a pair of kicks.

Other Boilermakers honored Monday night were second-team picks Ricardo Allen, Cody Webster and Carson Wiggs.

Allen, a sophomore cornerback, made 72 tackles and a team-best three interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown against Minnesota in the Big Ten opener. His biggest play of the season, though, may have been made on special teams, when he blocked Middle Tennessee's game-tying field goal on the final play of regulation, securing Purdue's Week 1 win.

Webster, Purdue's sophomore punter, averaged 43.3 yards over his 44 punts, coming in second in the league.

As a senior, Wiggs made 16-of-21 field goal attempts, produced 23 touchbacks on 66 kickoffs and shared punting duties with Webster.

Purdue's honorable-mention All-Big Ten picks were left offensive tackle Dennis Kelly and linebackers Dwayne Beckford and Joe Holland.

Beckford led the Boilermakers in tackles as a junior with 91, even though he was often relegated to the sideline early in the season with Purdue playing nickel defense.

Holland, a senior, made 85 stops, including eight-and-a-half for loss.

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