Barclay, Plackemeier To Play In All-Star Games
12/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 16, 2005
Winston-Salem, N.C. - ACC Player of the Year Chris Barclay and Ray Guy Award winner Ryan Plackemeier have accepted invitations to play in January All-Star games. Barclay will compete in the Las Vegas All-American Classic on January 14 at UNLV's Sam Boyd Stadium. Plackemeier will participate in the East-West Shrine Classic on January 21 in San Antonio's Alamodome. The East-West Game will be televised on ESPN2 at 4:00 p.m. eastern time.
Barclay, a native of Louisville, Ky., carried 218 times for 1,127 yards and 10 touchdown in 2005. He also added 381 receiving and return yards. Barclay led the ACC in rushing yards (1,127), rushing attempts (218) and all-purpose yards (1,508).
He etched his name into the Wake Forest, ACC and NCAA record books. Barclay leaves Wake Forest as the team's all-time leader in seven major categories including yards (4,032), scoring (240 points), rushing touchdowns (40), total touchdowns (40), all-purpose yards (4,930), 200-yard rushing games (3) and 1,000-yard rushing seasons (3). His four touchdown performance against East Carolina this season, tied a school record.
Barclay became only the player in ACC history to lead the league in rushing during the regular season in three straight years. He ended his career as the ACC's fifth-leading rusher of all-time, seventh in rushing touchdowns and ninth in total touchdowns. Barclay accomplished rare feats as only one player in ACC history had more 200 rushing yard games (Thomas Jones) and only one player had more 1,000 rushing yard seasons (Amos Lawrence).
Plackemeier was selected as the 2005 Ray Guy Award winner, given annually to the college football's best punter. Plackemeier leads the nation in both net punting and average per punt. He punted 67 times this season with an average of 47.2 yards per punt. Plackemeier also dropped 20 punts inside the 20 yardline and nearly half his punts were not returned. Wake Forest's cover team was instrumental in helping Plackemeier lead the nation in net punting. Deacon opponents averaged just 9.0 yards per punt return.
A native of Bonsall, Calif., Plackemeier had 13 punts of at least 60 yards this season. Three of those went at least 70 yards, including an 82-yard blast against NC State on October 22. That punt was the fourth-longest punt in ACC history. His punts of 71, 74 and 82 yards are the three longest punts in the ACC this season.
Plackemeier shattered his own Wake Forest single season record for average yards per punt, originally set in 2003 when he averaged 45.6 yards per punt. He eclipsed that mark by nearly a yard and a half in 2005.