Analysis: Reaction to Phil Steele’s Preseason All-Big 12 Team

The one and only Phil Steele announced his Preseason All-Big 12 picks on Friday morning. 

Other than Kirby Vander Kamp and Edwin Arceo, Iowa Staters were hard to find. 

Steele listed Vander Kamp as the league’s best punter entering 2013. Surprisingly, Arceo was listed as a 2nd Team All-Big 12 kicker. 

Other mentions…

— Senior linebacker Jeremiah George as a 3rd-team linebacker. 

— Jacques Washington as a 4th-team safety. 

— Tom Farniok as a 4th-team center. 

— Kyle Lichtenberg as a 4th-team offensive tackle. 

— Ernst Brun as a 4th-team tight end. 

Instant analysis

— Jeremiah George needs to be higher. Steele misses the boat here. As we’ve dissected time and time again here on this site, based off of who is around him and his "light" suddenly coming on a season ago, George is due for a banner year at Iowa State. I say he leads the league in tackles and could very realistically be a first-teamer. 

— Jacques Washington being a 4th-teamer seems low to me but then I looked at the guys listed ahead of him: Ty Zimmerman (Kansas State), Elisha Olabode (TCU) and Amad Dixon (Baylor) are all dudes. I can’t gripe too much about this one. 

— Van Der Kamp is the right call as first team punter. However, Edwin Arceo as the No. 2 kicker made me double, triple, and quadruple take the list. For Iowa State’s sake, pray that Steele is right on that one. 

— I think that Tom Farniok is probably better than a 4th-team center. 

— I’m not sure that Kyle Lichtenberg deserves to be a 4th-team offensive tackle. Again, if that turns out to be the case then that is outstanding for the future of Cyclone football in 2013. Lichtenberg is a guy who now has a ton of experience so maybe this will be the year that he takes a large step forward. 

— Ernst Brun deserves to be on this list, as he is. Brun tied Josh Lenz to lead Iowa State in touchdown receptions last season with six. 

— A few guys who probably deserve to be mentioned and aren’t are: Willie Scott (DE), Deon Broomfield (SS) and Jansen Watson (CB).