Florida Gators freshmen Martez Ivey (OL) and CeCe Jefferson (DL) were named to the 2015 Freshman All-Southeastern Conference team on Thursday.
Ivey, an offensive lineman from Apopka, started the last seven games for the Gators, all at left guard. Ivey came to Florida as a tackle but made the move inside to help with depth issues. Ivey played both left tackle and guard as well as right tackle during his freshman season.
Jefferson made three starts, his first as a Rush/DE against Kentucky. He also started a game at defensive tackle against Tennessee and again at Rush/DE against Florida State. Jefferson totaled 28 tackles (17 solo), had 8.5 tackles for a loss, had 3.5 sacks, recovered one fumble, had two quarterback hurries and one pass broken up during his freshman campaign. CeCe posted career highs in tackles against FAU (4).
The biggest surprise on the list was the exclusion of freshman receiver Antonio Callaway. Callaway was eligible to make the team both as a receiver and as a returner, but those spots went to Calvin Ridley (Alabama WR) and Christian Kirk (Texas A&M WR/Returner).
Kirk led all freshmen in the conference in receiving (925), touchdowns (6) and yards per game (77.1) and was second in receptions among freshmen with 70. All of those totals put Kirk in the top-six of the conference, regardless of class. Kirk also led the nation with a 24.36 punt return average and scored twice on returns.
Ridley finished his freshman season with 75 receptions (3rd in SEC) for 893 yards (5th in SEC) and five touchdowns (9th in SEC). Ridley had eight receptions for 102 yards against the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship game.
Callaway was one of the lone bright spots on Florida’s offense this season. The Homestead native hauled in 30 passes (28th in SEC, 4th among freshmen) for 603 yards (15th in SEC, 3rd among freshmen) and four touchdowns (14th in SEC, 3rd among freshmen). His 20.10 average per catch led all receivers in the SEC.
As a returner, Callaway’s 28 returns were good for second in the SEC and his 15.54 yard per return average was third best in the league. His punt return touchdown against LSU made him the first true freshman in school history to return a punt for a touchdown, and Callaway doubled down, returning another for a score against Alabama in the SEC Championship.
Congrats to CeCe and Martez!! I’m sure both of these guys are really glad they stuck with the Gators last year while we were going through that tough transition period from Champ to Mac. Those guys worked really hard and it clearly paid off for them.
That’s tough that Callaway didn’t make the cut, but Kirk and Ridley are 2 pretty dang good receivers. I guarantee that the committee, or whoever picks/votes on this, was strongly considering putting Callaway in there. He had a great year and should be extremely happy with his performance regardless of accolades. He knows that Gator Nation is proud to call him a Gator and we can’t wait to see at least 2 more years of him wearing the O&B!!
bet that CeCe making All-SEC Freshman team makes Cowart all the more butt-hurt about falling for Muschump’s and his sidekick’s, Lil’Rob, lies.