Yardbarker: Buck Buchanan

Chiefstory: Buck Buchanan

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 03:09:59 -0500

(Long-time reader and one of our favorite commenters, Matthew Shearon aka Cinco Ocho, will be contributing guest posts on the legends of Chiefs history periodically. This "Chiefstory" series starts with none other than big No. 86, Buck Buchanan. Enjoy! - Junious "Buck" Buchanan was born ...

More Honors for Black Bear Football

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:15:43 -0500

Four University of Maine football players, senior defensive end Jovan Belcher (West Babylon, N.Y.), redshirt freshman fullback Jared Turcotte (Lewiston, Maine), senior tailback Jhamal Fluellen (Lockport, N.Y.) and senior offensive
lineman Ryan Canary (Point Pleasant, N.J), recently earned All-America honors from multiple news agencies.

Belcher earned First-Team All-America honors from College Sporting News this week, which was his fifth first-team honor this season. Belcher became CAA Football

More Accolades for Black Bears Jovan Belcher

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:15:20 -0500

The honors continued to roll in for University of Maine senior defensive end Jovan Belcher (West Babylon, N.Y.), as he was named a 2008 ECAC Division I Football Championship Subdivision All-Star on Friday. It marked the second-straight season he was named an All-Star by the ECAC.

Belcher, who was named the 2008 CAA Football Defensive Player of the Year, ranked second in the league in tackles for loss with 17.5 this season. Belcher also recorded 7.5 sacks this season, which ranked fourth in the CAA. He made at least one stop for loss in 10-of-13 games, including the final five of the season. Belcher recorded multiple tackles for loss in seven games, including the final three in which he totaled a combined 7.0 stops for minus-30 yards. He ranked 26th nationally in tackles for loss and 47th in sacks. Belcher finished his career with 44.0 tackles for loss, which places him among the top 25 all-time in NCAA FCS history for career tackles for loss.

Belcher led all CAA defensive linemen this season with 98 tackles. The total was 26 more than the nearest competitor. He recorded at least seven tackles in eight games, including three double-digit performances. He made a career-high 16 stops in Maine's thrilling 41-40 double-overtime victory over Hofstra on Oct. 18.

Belcher's finest performance of the 2008 season came in Maine's exciting 27-10 win at No. 20 Delaware on Oct. 11. He recorded seven tackles, two sacks (-15 yards) and two forced fumbles in Maine's first win over a ranked opponent in more than two years. His initial forced fumble came early in the fourth quarter in Delaware territory with the game tied at 10-10. The offense turned the fumble into points two plays later as quarterback Michael Brusko scored on a five-yard run to put Maine on top at 17-10. With Maine holding a 20-10 lead late in the quarter, and Delaware trying to mount a comeback, Belcher turned in another outstanding play as he crashed through the offensive line and sacked Blue Hen quarterback Robby Schoenhoft, causing a fumble. Jordan Stevens scooped up the loose ball and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown to seal the win for the Black Bears. For his performance, Belcher was named both the CAA Defensive Player of the Week, and The Sports Network National Defensive Player of the Week.

Belcher's ECAC honor is the latest in a long line of honors he earned this season, including: a five-time First-Team All-American, making him the lone player in the CAA to be a consensus First-Team All-American this season; second-place in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award, which is presented annually to the nation's most outstanding defensive player at the FCS level (highest finish ever for a Black Bear in a national player-of-the-year award vote); 2008 All-CAA First-Team; 2008 New England Football Writers All-Star; 2008 CAA Football Preseason Defensive Player of the Year; 2008 Sporting News Preseason All-American; 2008 Sports Network First-Team Preseason All-American; was named the top defensive player in the CAA in the 2008 preseason according to the Sporting News; 2008 Phil Steele Preseason First-Team All-American; 2008 Lindy's Preseason Second-Team All-American; 2008 Preseason All-CAA selection; and a 2008 Phil Steele Preseason First-Team All-CAA selection.

Belcher, a senior co-captain, helped guide Maine to an 8-5 record this season and a berth in the NCAA FCS playoffs, marking the program's fifth trip to the national tournament. The Black Bears used a six-game winning streak near the end of the season to finish second in the CAA North Division after they were tabbed to finish fourth in the league's preseason poll. Maine finished 18th nationally in the final Sports Network Top 25 Poll.

Courtesy University of Maine

Jovan Belcher 1st team All American Again!

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:03:30 -0500

JOVAN BELCHER NAMED SPORTS NETWORK FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN

ORONO, Maine - The honors continued to roll in for University of Maine senior defensive end Jovan Belcher (West Babylon, N.Y.), as he was named a First-Team All-American by The Sports Network on Tuesday. The honor made Belcher a consensus First-Team
All-American this season, as he earned first-team honors from the AFCA, Walter Camp Foundation, Associated Press and Sports Network. Belcher becomes the second Black Bear in the last three years to earn first-team honors from the four news agencies
and organizations, joining Matt King, who earned the four honors in 2006.

It marked the second-straight season Belcher earned All-America honors, as he was named a Second-Team All-American by the Associated Press and a Third-Team All-American by The Sports Network last year. He is just the fourth Black Bear in program
history to earn All-America honors in multiple seasons, joining John Huard (1965-66), Aaron Dashiell (1998-99) and Cooper (2001-02).

This recent All-America honor from The Sports Network marks the second time in the last four weeks Belcher has received major recognition from the news agency. Last month, Belcher finished second in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award, which is
presented annually to the nation's most outstanding defensive player at the Division I FCS level. The award and its voting is conducted by The Sports Network.

Belcher, who was named the 2008 CAA Football Defensive Player of the Year, ranked second in the league in tackles for loss with 17.5 this season. Belcher also recorded 7.5 sacks this season, which ranked fourth in the CAA. He made at least one stop
for loss in 10-of-13 games, including the final five of the season. Belcher recorded multiple tackles for loss in seven games, including the final three in which he totaled a combined 7.0 stops for minus-30 yards. He ranked 26th nationally in
tackles for loss and 47th in sacks. Belcher finished his career with 44.0 tackles for loss, which places him among the top 25 all-time in NCAA FCS history for career tackles for loss.

Belcher led all CAA defensive linemen this season with 98 tackles. The total was 26 more than the nearest competitor. He recorded at least seven tackles in eight games, including three double-digit performances. He made a career-high 16 stops in
Maine's thrilling 41-40 double-overtime victory over Hofstra on Oct. 18.

Belcher's finest performance of the 2008 season came in Maine's exciting 27-10 win at No. 20 Delaware on Oct. 11. He recorded seven tackles, two sacks (-15 yards) and two forced fumbles in Maine's first win over a ranked opponent in more than two
years. His initial forced fumble came early in the fourth quarter in Delaware territory with the game tied at 10-10. The offense turned the fumble into points two plays later as quarterback Michael Brusko scored on a five-yard run to put Maine on
top at 17-10. With Maine holding a 20-10 lead late in the quarter, and Delaware trying to mount a comeback, Belcher turned in another outstanding play as he crashed through the offensive line and sacked Blue Hen quarterback Robby Schoenhoft, causing
a fumble. Jordan Stevens scooped up the loose ball and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown to seal the win for the Black Bears. For his performance, Belcher was named both the CAA Defensive Player of the Week, and The Sports Network National
Defensive Player of the Week.

Belcher's All-America honors, second-place finish for the Buchanan, and the CAA's Defensive Player-of-the-Year award were the latest in a long line of honors he earned this season. In addition to all the honors listed above, Belcher also earned:
2008 All-CAA First-Team; 2008 New England Football Writers All-Star; 2008 CAA Football Preseason Defensive Player of the Year; 2008 Sporting News Preseason All-American; 2008 Sports Network First-Team Preseason All-American; was named the top
defensive player in the CAA in the 2008 preseason according to the Sporting News; 2008 Phil Steele Preseason First-Team All-American; 2008 Lindy's Preseason Second-Team All-American; 2008 Preseason All-CAA selection; and a 2008 Phil Steele Preseason
First-Team All-CAA selection.

Belcher, a senior co-captain, helped guide Maine to an 8-5 record this season and a berth in the NCAA FCS playoffs, marking the program's fifth trip to the national tournament. The Black Bears used a six-game winning streak near the end of the
season to finish second in the CAA North Division after they were tabbed to finish fourth in the league's preseason poll. Maine finished 18th nationally in the final Sports Network Top 25 Poll.

Courtesy University of Maine

Belcher Runner-Up For Buchanan

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:15:05 -0500

Eastern Washington's Greg Peach won the Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player in FCS. UMaine's Jovan Belcher was the runner-up. Congrats to the winner and everyone who was nominated.

Maine Black Bears DE Jovan Belcher Garners Many Honors

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:01:32 -0500

JOVAN BELCHER GARNERS FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICA HONORS
NAMED TO AFCA AND WALTER CAMP TEAMS

ORONO, Maine

LIST: UPDATED, by all you BARKERS --- Here's your NEW & IMPROVED: "BEST Players to ever wear the number"

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:35:37 -0500

I want to thank all the BARKERS in the YARD that took the time to comment on this list and add some players we overlooked in the first go around. That said, BARKERS, we bring you the NEW & IMPROVED UPDATED LIST with players brought to us from all you BARKERS. Now we need to see if we can narrow this list down to our......"BEST EVER to WEAR the NUMBER" What are your thoughts? You can vote on here and I will continue to update on here for all you guys. HERE IS YOUR NEW LIST of the "BEST EVER to WEAR the NUMBER from 0 - 99" 0. Wilber "Pete" Henry 00. Jim Otto 1. Jim Thorpe (wore #'s 3 & 21) over Warren Moon could go here. 2. Charley Trippi 3. Bronko Nagurski over (if you put MOON #1, J.THORPE HERE) 4. Brett Farve 5. Paul Hornung over Donovan McNabb 6. Benny Friedman 7. George "PAPA BEAR" Halas (He started it all for us) over John Elway, if you don't agree w/"PAPA BEAR" 8. Troy Aikman over Steve Young, I went w/ the SB wins 9. Carson Palmer over Sonny Jergenson 10. Fran "THE MAN" Tarkenton 11. Norm Van Brocklin 12. Tom Brady over Terry Bradshaw & Jim Kelly 13. Dan Marino over Don Maynard (my 2nd choice @ this #) 14. Y.A. Tittle 15. Bart Starr 16. Joe Montana over George Blanda (Played 2 positions, {QB & K} & had the record for several years for most points scored in NFL history) 17. Don Meredith 18. Payton Manning over Charlie Joiner 19. Johnny Unitas 20. Barry Sanders over Brian Dawkins and Ed Reed 21. Deion " PRIMETIME" Sanders over LT2 (SD RB) 22. Emmitt Smith over Paul Krause & Roger Wehrli 23. Devin Hester over James Lofton 24. Lenny Moore over Champ Bailey 25. Fred Bilentnikoff 26. Herb Adderley over Rod Woodson 27. Ken Houston 28. Darrell Green over Marshall Faulk 29. Eric Dickerson 30. Bill Willis over Terrell "TD" Davis 31. Jim Taylor 32. Jim Brown 33. Sammy Baugh over Tony Dorsett (Sorry Dallas Fans) 34. Walter "SWEETNESS" Payton over Earl Campbell 35. Pete Pihos 36. Brian Westbrook over Jerome Bettis 37. Doak Walker 38. Mack Strong 39. Larry Csonka 40. Gale Sayers 41. Terrence Newman over Lorenzo Neal 42. ***THIS WAS {1} OF THE TOUGHEST #'s TO PICK FOR ME*** Paul Warfield, Ronnie Lott, Charlie Taylor & Sid Luckman...I'll go CHARLIE TAYLOR 43. Troy Polamalu 44. John Riggins 45. Emlen Tunnell (HOF'er) over T.J. Duckett (this is a hard # to come up with the BEST EVER to Wear #45) 46. Ladell Betts 47. Mel Blount 48. Daryl "Moose" Johnston over Justin Snow 49. Tony Richardson 50. Mike "WIDE EYED" Singletary 51. Dick Butcus 52. Mike Webster over Ray Lewis 53. Keith Bulluck over Harry Carson 54. Randy White over Brian Urlacher 55. Lance Briggs 56. LT (NYG LB) over Shawne Merriman 57. Dwight Stephenson 58. Jack Lambert over Derrick Thomas 59. Jack Ham 60. Chuck Bednarik 61. Bill George 62. Jim Langer 63. Gene Upshaw over Willie Lanier 64. Dave Wilcox 65. Tom Mack over Elvin Bethea 66. Ray Nitschke over Larry Little & Alan Faneca (Tough pick here) 67. Bob Kuechenberg over Tony Ugoh ( I can't think of any others that wore #67, little help here?) 68. Joe Delamielleure 69. John Runyan 70. Rayfield Wright over Art Donovan & Sam Huff 71. Walter Jones over Fred Dean 72. Dan Dierdorf 73. Ron Yary over John Hannah and Joe Klecko (Hard Pick here) 74. Merlin Olsen over Ron Mix 75. Deacon Jones over "Mean"Joe Green & Jonathon Ogden 76. Steve Hutchinson 77. Red Grange 78. Anthony Munoz over Jackie Slater, Art Shell, Bruce Smith & Bobby Bell 79. Bob St. Clair 80. Jerry Rice over Cris Carter 81. Dick "NIGHT TRAIN " Lane over Doug Atkins , Terrell Owens (TO) & Andre Reed 82. Ozzie Newsome 83. Ted Hendricks 84. Randy Moss (before he switched #'s) over Shannon Sharpe 85. Jack Youngblood 86. Dante Lavelli over Buck Buchanan 87. Dave Casper over Willie Davis 88. Marvin Harrison over John Mackey Alan Page & Michael Irvin 89. Gino Marchetti over Mike Ditka 90. Julius Peppers 91. Tommie Harris 92. Reggie "Minister of Defense" White 93. Dwight Freeny 94. DeMarcus Ware 95. Shawn Phillips 96. Adalius Thomas 97. Patrick Kerney 98. John Henderson over Tony Siragusa 99. Jason Taylor over Dan Hampton & Jerome Brown