Devey, Hornsey Honored on Midseason Football Team

Memphis senior offensive lineman Jordan Devey, who played three different positions on the offensive line in last week's win over Rice, has been named to Phil Steele's College Football Preview Midseason All-Conference USA Team. Junior punter Tom Hornsey was named to the publication's midseason second team.

Devey is just one of two players at Memphis to start every game over the past two seasons. In 2012, Devey has been the ultimate iron man, having played all 313 offensive snaps the Tigers have run.

Jordan has started all five games at left tackle this season, but against Rice also played left guard before settling in to play right guard in the second half. The Tigers scored on their first two series with Devey playing at right guard and also sustained a late, time-consuming series in the fourth quarter to help salt away a critical 14-10 victory over the favored Owls.

Devey, a native of American Fork, Utah who came to Memphis by way of American Fork High School and Snow College in Ephraim, UT, was also a Preseason All-Conference USA selection in the poll which was released in July by the league office.

Hornsey's selection to Steele's second team is a curious one to Tiger followers.

Tom is averaging 43.23 yards per punt this season, which is far from eye-popping; first team selection Richie Leone of Houston is averaging an impressive 48.0. Beyond just his season average, though, the Geelong, Australia, native Hornsey has placed a staggering 16 of his 30 punts inside opponents' 20-yard line.

Additionally, eleven of those 16 have been downed inside the 10 and seven of Hornsey's punts this season--almost 25%--have been downed inside the opposition's five-yard line, an almost unbelievable ratio.

However, it's pretty clear that the staff at Phil Steele's College Football Preview are only looking at gross yards per punt. Look for Hornsey to garner a lot of attention for First Team All Conference USA after the season is over, as C-USA coaches vote on the team and will likely appreciate his stellar work.

Memphis reaches the midpoint of its season on Saturday when the Tigers travel to East Carolina to take on the 3-3 Pirates, who are 2-1 in conference play and are in second place in C-USA East, behind the 1-0 Tigers and UCF Knights.