Football: Wildcats earn preseason honors

Three University of Kentucky football players, including junior wide receiver/quarterback Randall Cobb, senior tailback Derrick Locke and senior defensive end DeQuin Evans, have been named to the Preseason All-Southeastern Conference Team selected by the league coaches, the conference office announced Tuesday.

Cobb, who made the team as an all-purpose player, and Locke were named to the first team while Evans was selected to the second team. The honor for Cobb and Locke is one of many so far this preseason as Cobb has gathered eight preseason honors while Locke has received four. This is the first preseason honor for Evans.

• Cobb (Alcoa, Tenn.) was selected to the All-SEC first team by the Associated Press and ESPN.com after an impressive sophomore season. Cobb, considered one of the nation’s most versatile performers, finished second in the SEC in touchdowns, third in punt returns, fourth in all-purpose yardage and seventh in scoring last season. The junior led the team in 2009 in receiving with 39 catches for 447 yards and four touchdowns. While operating UK’s “WildCobb” formation, he rushed for 573 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also averaged 26.5 yards on kickoff returns and 12.8 yards on punt returns. In 23 career games as a quarterback/wide receiver, Cobb has gathered 889 yards rushing and over 644 yards receiving and scored a total of 24 touchdowns.

• Locke (Hugo, Okla.) received several honors last year, including All-SEC first team kickoff returner by CollegeFootballNews.com and an Associated Press All-SEC second team all-purpose player. The 5-foot-9, 190-pound tailback has 1,731 rushing yards – good for 10th on UK’s career rushing list - with 12 touchdowns rushing and three touchdowns receiving during his career. Locke has also returned a kickoff for a touchdown in each of the last two seasons, including a 100-yard return for a touchdown against in-state rival Louisville last season. With the 100-yard return, Locke became the only player in school history to have two 100-yarders in a career. In 2009, Locke led the UK squad and ranked sixth in the SEC in rushing with 907 yards and six touchdowns.

• Evans (Long Beach, Calif.) posted a tremendous first season as a Wildcat, leading the UK defense in tackles-for-loss and sacks in 2009. Evans played and started in all 13 games last season, gathering 38 tackles, six sacks and 12.5 tackles-for-loss. Last season, Evans was named to the All-SEC fourth team by Phil Steele’s College Football and UK’s Most Outstanding First-Year Defensive Player by UK’s coaches. Evans, a playmaker that made a quick adjustment from junior college to the SEC last season, ranked fifth in the SEC in tackles-for-loss and ninth in sacks. Arguably, one of Evans’ best games of the year came against Louisville when he recorded five tackles and two sacks against the in-state rival.

Here is a full list of 2010 preseason honors for Cobb, Locke and Evans:

Randall Cobb, Jr., QB/WR, #18
Athlon All-America – Second team, all-purpose player
Sporting News All-SEC – First team, running back
Rivals.com All-SEC – First team, punt returner
Lindy’s All-SEC – First team, all-purpose player
Athlon All-SEC – First team, punt returner
Phil Steele All-SEC – First team, punt returner
Blue Ribbon All-SEC – First team, punt returner
Coaches Preseason All-SEC – First team, all-purpose player

Derrick Locke, Sr., RB, #20
Rivals.com All-SEC – First team, running back
Phil Steele All-SEC – First team, running back
Blue Ribbon All-SEC – First team, running back
Coaches Preseason All-SEC – First team, running back

DeQuin Evans, Sr., DE, #55
Coaches Preseason All-SEC – Second team, defensive end