Banjo, Beachum earn high honors from Texas Football

SMU seniors Chris Banjo and Kelvin Beachum have earned high honors from Dave Campbell's Texas Football, with each being selected as the best player in the state at his respective position.

DALLAS (SMU) — SMU seniors Chris Banjo and Kelvin Beachum have earned high honors from Dave Campbell's Texas Football, with each being selected as the best player in the state at his respective position.

Chris Banjo
Chris Banjo
In addition, the two were also among eight SMU players named to the All-Texas College Team according to the publication's 42nd-annual edition, which hit the newsstands this week.

Banjo, a native of Sugar Land, Texas, started all 14 games at safety for SMU in 2011, earning second-team All-Conference USA honors. On the year, he tallied 92 total tackles with 6.5 for loss. DCTF recognized Banjo as Texas' top defensive back.

Beachum, a Mexia native, has started every game since for SMU over the past three seasons, twice earning All-C-USA honors. In 2011, Beachum blocked for an offense that totaled a school-record 3,861 passing yards and added 1,943 yards on the ground. DCTF recognized Beachum as Texas' top offensive lineman.

Joining Banjo on the All-Texas College Team first-team defense were SMU senior defensive end Taylor Thompson and junior linebacker Ja'Gared Davis. Mustangs Taylor Reed and Richard Crawford were second-team honorees.

Kelvin Beachum Jr
Kelvin Beachum

Beachum was SMU's lone first-team offensive selection, but senior Cole Beasley and junior Zach Line were second-team choices.

These awards come less than a week after Athlon Sports preseason football magazine selected SMU to finish first in Conference USA's Western Division. The publication also named nine Mustangs to its preseason All-C-USA squads. In addition, the SMU wide receivers, offensive line and defensive line units were all deemed best in C-USA.

The Mustangs enter 2011 on the heels of consecutive bowl berths and Conference USA Western Division Championships.

Complete information on SMU football tickets is available at SMUMustangs.com. To purchase season tickets please call 214-768-4263 (SMU-GAME).

SMUMustangs.com
Find us at Facebook.com/SMUMustangs
Follow SMU Athletics at Twitter.com/SMUMustangs

SMU, the only Division I athletic program in Dallas, Texas, sponsors 17 sports and has been ranked as the top school in its conference for 11 of the last 13 years in the Director's Cup overall athletic rankings. More information about SMU and its coaches, student-athletes and teams is available at www.SMUMustangs.com.