Three Tigers Honored By Conference On Coaches Preseason All-SEC Teams - AuburnTigers.com

Three Tigers Honored By Conference On Coaches Preseason All-SEC Teams Coleman and Ziemba named to second team, Tate to third team.

July 16, 2009

AUBURN, Ala. - Three Auburn football players have been named to the 2009 All-Southeastern Conference Coaches' Football Team, the league office announced Thursday. Senior defensive end Antonio Coleman and junior offensive tackle Lee Ziemba were named to the second team, while senior running back Ben Tate was selected to the third team.

Coleman, who earned first-team All-SEC honors by the league's media and coaches following the 2008 season, led Auburn in both sacks (6.0) and tackles for loss (10.5) during his junior campaign. He collected a total of 46 tackles (29 solo, 17 assists) in his 11 games played while also forcing fumble. Coleman enters his senior season with 15.5 career sacks, needing just one more to move into a tie for 10th on Auburn's career sacks list.

Ziemba has started all 25 games over the last two seasons since becoming the first true freshman to start a season opener for the Tigers since 2002. He finished his sophomore year with 47 cockroach blocks, 19 pancake blocks and 72 rodeo blocks. Ziemba was named a first-team Freshman All-American in 2007 by The Sporting News, Rivals.com, Scout.com and collegefootballnews.com.

Tate enters his season year with 1,959 career rushing yards, ranking 14th in school history. He has led Auburn in rushing in each of the past two seasons, totaling 903 yards on the ground in 2007 and 664 yards last season. He has 14 career rushing touchdowns and four career 100-yard rushing games, including a career high of 156 vs. Tulane in 2006.

The Tigers will open the 2009 season Sept. 5 vs. Louisiana Tech at Jordan-Hare Stadium.