June 11, 2010
Vanderbilt linebacker Chris Marve and running back/return specialist Warren Norman continue to rake up preseason honors.
In its 2010 college football preview edition that hit newsstands June 10, Blue Ribbon magazine listed both Marve, a junior from Memphis, and Norman, a sophomore from Stone Mountain, Ga., to its first team All-Southeastern Conference preseason squad. Both were also named the league’s top performers at their specialties in a recent poll of SEC sports information directors published in the Birmingham News.
The listing of Marve and Norman as all-conference players comes after two other magazines, Athlon and Phil Steele, named both as preseason All-SEC candidates. Two other Commodores, junior cornerback Casey Hayward and junior safety Sean Richardson, also have been recognized by various publications.
According to the Birmingham News, the conference’s sports information directors named Marve as the SEC’s top inside linebacker and Norman as its top returner.
Statistically, both Marve and Norman are among the leading players at their respective positions. Marve enters the 2010 season as the SEC’s top returning tackler, and is looking to surpass 100 total tackles for the third consecutive season. As a freshman, Norman set a new league record for single-season kickoff return yards, and matched a 25-year-old SEC record by returning three kicks for touchdowns.
Marve, from White Station H.S., in Memphis, also has been elected as a defensive co-captain by his teammates, along with defensive tackles Adam Smotherman and T.J. Greenstone.
The Commodores open the season Sept. 4, playing host to Northwestern of the Big Ten in Vanderbilt Stadium. Kickoff for the opener has not been announced.
Vanderbilt’s schedule also includes seven home games. Besides Northwestern, the Commodores host LSU on Sept. 11, Eastern Michigan on Oct. 9, South Carolina on Oct. 23, Florida on Nov. 6, Tennessee on Nov. 20, and Wake Forest on Nov. 27.
Season tickets starting at $125 can be purchased through the team’s official athletic website, vucommodores.com, by phoning (615) 322-GOLD, or at the Vanderbilt Box Office in McGugin Center (2601 Jess Neely Drive) during regular business hours.
