Indiana University Athletics
Thigpen Honored on Pair of Midseason All-America Teams
10/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 12, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana sophomore Marcus Thigpen has earned a spot on a pair of midseason All-America Teams. Thigpen is the lone kick returner on SI.com's Midseason All-America and CBS SportsLine.com's Halfway All-America Teams.
The reigning Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week leads the nation with 41.8 yards per kickoff return and three touchdown scores. He netted his third TD sprint of the season at Illinois on Oct. 7, matching a Big Ten single-season record held by Purdue's Stan Brown (1970) and Michigan State's DeAndra Cobb (2003) and putting him atop the Indiana career touchdown return list.
Through the first half of the season, Thigpen ranks eighth on the Hoosiers' single-season kick return yardage list with 543 and holds the longest (100-yarder at Ball State) and second-longest (98-yarder at Illinois) kick returns in school history.
In his top performance of the season, Thigpen racked up a school-record 197 return yards on four kickoffs (49.3 average) in the Hoosiers' thrilling 34-32 victory over the Fighting Illini. Additionally, Thigpen gained a career-high 91 yards on the ground, including the team's longest run from scrimmage this season (44 yards), and 23 receiving yards. His 311 all-purpose yards is the fourth-best single-game effort in Indiana history. Thigpen averages 137.2 all-purpose yards per game, which ranks fourth in the league and 16th nationally.
