Jan. 9, 2006

ESPN college football analyst and Hall of Famer Mark May announced his first ever All-Mayday team during a broadcast during the bowl season, awarding those gridders that exhibited exceptional toughness during the 2005 season. May named senior safety Kyle Kleckner as one of three defensive backs to make the team.

Kleckner persevered during his injury-riddled career to find himself in the midst of the Illinois secondary rotation this season. In one of the most courageous performances of the season, Kleckner earned his first career start against Iowa, suffered an injury to his face, which resulted in 30 stitches at halftime, but returned to the game, recording four tackles. Kleckner never missed a beat, returning to practice the following Monday and playing in every game the remainder of the season.

All-Mayday Team

Offense
QB - Chris Leak, Florida
RB - Garrett Wolfe, Northern Illinois
WR - Tommy Cook, Kentucky
WR - Ed Hinkel, Iowa
WR - George Smith, Vanderbilt
OT - Chris McGee, Tulane
OT - Andrew Carnahan, Arizona State
OG - Brian Daniels, Colorado
OG - Chris Chester, Oklahoma
C - Lyle Sendlein, Texas

Defense
DL - Garrett McIntyre, Fresno State
DL - John Glavine, Miami (OH)
DL - Jared Kesler, Texas Christian
DL - Brandon Rollins, Arkansas State
LB - Jason Mitchell, Tennessee
LB - Tony Taylor, Georgia
LB - John Abbate, Wake Forest
LB - Patrick Willis, Ole Miss
DB - Kyle Kleckner, Illinois
DB - Nate Soelberg, Brigham Young
DB - Jaxson Appel, Texas A&M

Special Teams
K - Alexis Cerna, Oregon State
LS - Justin Venable, Louisiana-Lafayette