Klein, Knott, McDonough Make All-Big XII First Team

It was nice to see both the coaches and writers reward Knott with a first team placement and it definitely was well deserved after the Cyclones' defensive troubles in the month of November. What may be more surprising than McDonough's placement on this list is the inclusion of Klein. Klein was not dominant early in the season and became even less of a factor after Knott went down and he moved to the WILL position. No complaints here though as Klein has certainly proven over and over that he is an All-Big XII talent.

Kirby Van Der Kamp and Durrell Givens both made the second team and Carter Bykowski was an honorable mention, the only Cyclone offense player to get any All-Big XII honors. With Quinn Sharp still in the league it's tough to argue any placement higher than second team for Kirby, and given his improvement these last three years, I expect him to have a firm spot on the first team in 2013.

One can argue that Jacques Washington may have deserved second team alongside Givens but it's hard to give two All-Big XII honors to a secondary that ranked 8th in pass defense in conference play. Givens' inclusion on this list likely has more to do with his turnovers gained than his technique or dominance.

As for the rest of the league, there are few surprises. Collin Klein took home Offensive Player of the Year and was joined by teammate Arthur Brown as the Defensive Player of the Year. Lache Seastrunk's late season surge propelled him to Offensive Newcomer of the Year. My most curious placement had to do with Meshak Williams winning Defensive Lineman of the Year over Devonte Fields. While Fields was named the Defensive Player of the Year I thought his disruption and consistency was enough to earn him the Defensive Lineman award as well. However, knowing the Big XII they probably have some archaic rule in place preventing a player from winning multiple awards.

The actual teams themselves are relatively the same across the Coaches and AP, but Devonte Fields still got too little respect with the lack of an unanimous placement on the Coaches' list. Geno Smith and Landry Jones split QB duties on the AP Second Team while Smith has it to himself on the Coaches. McDonough was left off the AP team all together in favor of Texas Tech's Kerry Hyder.

Here's one final stat for you that illustrates the parity in the Big XII: This is the third year in a row that Texas has not placed an offensive skill player on either the First or Second Team All-Big XII.

Parity indeed. Let us know what you think about the 2012 All-Big XII Teams and any players you felt were severely wronged in the process.