Dec. 2, 2002

Four Miami University football players earned Mid-American Conference honors, as senior outside linebacker Matt Robillard (Milford, CT/Milford Academy) and sophomore place kicker Jared Parseghian (Sylvania, OH/St. John's) earned first-team honors and sophomore quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (Findlay, OH/Findlay) and junior running back Luke Clemens (Dayton, OH/Bellbrook) were named second-team all-conference, the MAC office announced today. The selections were voted on by the league's 13 head coaches.

Robillard is the first repeat first-team defensive all-conference honoree at Miami since Dustin Cohen in 1997-98. Robillard finished the regular-season 25th in the MAC and second on the team with 8.2 tackles per game. His 16 tackles for loss led Miami and were third in the MAC. He finished the year with six sacks, bringing his career total to 13, tied for the 10th most in school history.

In his first full season as the starting place kicker for the RedHawks, Parseghian quickly became one of the nation's top kickers, earning status as a semifinialst for the Lou Groza Place Kicker Award. Parseghian was the only kicker in college football this season to make every field goal attempt, connecting on 14-of-14. His current streak of 17 straight field goals without a miss is a new MAC record. Parseghian was the RedHawks' second-leading scorer with 86 points.

Roethlisberger, the first quarterback in Miami history to post back-to-back 3,000-yard passing seasons, broke nearly all of his own passing marks this year, completing 271-of-427 attempts for 3,238 yards and 22 touchdowns. In just two short seasons, he has already broken the school record for completions (489) and is just short of establishing new marks for passing yards and touchdowns. His 525 passing yards and 41 completions earlier this season versus Northern Illinois are both MAC single-game records. Roethlisberger earned MAC East Division Player of the Week twice during the season, once for his quarterbacking abilities and once for his punting skills. Roethlisberger is the first Miami quarterback since Bruce Matte in 1965-66 to garner all-MAC honors in back-to-back seasons.

After taking over for Cal Murray who was injured in Miami's third game at LSU, Clemens put together an impressive season rushing for a team-leading 1,009 yards on 223 carries (4.5 yards per carry). He rushed for 16 touchdowns on the year, the fourth-most in school history and the most by a Miami running back since Travis Prentice punched in 17 in 1999. Coming out of the backfield, Clemen was Miami's fifth-leading receiver, hauling in 27 catches for 334 yards and one touchdown. His best performance of the year came versus Marshall, racking up 189 yards of total offense, including 108 on the ground and 81 receiving.