Football Has Two Alumni On 2007 NFL Rosters
9/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
CONWAY, S.C. -- When the 2007 National Football League season opens this week, Coastal Carolina's young football program will have two of its recent graduates on active rosters for the first time in the program's brief history. Safety Quinton Teal (Bennettsville, S.C./Marlboro County) came through training camp with the Carolina Panthers and was named to the 53-man roster, while quarterback Tyler Thigpen (Winnsboro, S.C./Fairfield Central), who was waived yesterday after being drafted by and spending all training camp with the Minnesota Vikings, was claimed and put on the roster as the third quarterback by the Kansas City Chiefs.
A two-time First Team All-Big South selection and also named to the Associated Press All-America Second Team, Teal is the Big South Conference's all-time interception leader with 17 and leads the conference in single-season picks, this time tying with four, which ranks him 48th in the nation. He led the league with 13 passes defended and had 81 tackles, ranking second for Coastal and 12th overall in the league. He posted a career-best 13 tackles in the win over Liberty, including one tackle for loss and an interception that ended an LU scoring drive. He also added seven tackles, two pass breakups and a blocked kick that led to a two-point PAT conversion that was the difference in the win over Furman.
Thigpen was the first Big South Conference player drafted by the top professional league after being picked by the Vikings with the seventh pick in the seventh round (selection 217 overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft, Apr. 29, The Big South Conference Offensive Player of the Year and seventh in the balloting for the Walter Payton Award, he ranked second in the Football Championship Subdivision with 329.3 ypg of total offense, while being fourth nationally with 274.7 passing yards per game after leading Coastal to its third consecutive Big South title and first-ever berth in the NCAA Division I Football Championships. The first-ever Big South player to be nominated for the Payton Award and a 2006 American Football Coaches Association All-American and Associated Press First Team All-American, he set nine Conference season records in 2006 in total offense (3,952), total offense per game (329.3), passing yards (3,296), touchdown passes (29), passing yards per game (274.7), passing efficiency (167.42), 300-yard passing games (5), 300-total yard games (9) and rushing yards by a quarterback (656). He was named Player of the Week four times this season and became the first Big South quarterback to rush for more than 600 yards in a season, with his 656 ranking fourth overall in league rushing, while adding five touchdowns. His 3,296 passing yards also made him the first quarterback ever to throw for more than 3,000 yards in a single season. He also ranks second all-time in the Big South in total offense with 8,236 yards, while also helping CCU to a 34-11 (30-8 as a starter) during his four years with the Chanticleers.
The Panthers open the season at the St. Louis Rams, Sun., Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. EST, while the Chiefs start on the road against the Houston Texans, also at 1 p.m. EST.
