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Ted Hendricks Award Watch List (National Defensive End Award)
Lindys Preseason First-Team All Big Ten
Rated No. 15 Defensive End by Lindys
Street & Smiths Preseason First-Team All-Big Ten
Preseason Second-Team All-Big Ten by Athlon
2002:Finished sixth on the team with 54 tackles ... Led the team in tackles for loss with 12, sacks with five and quarterback hurries with seven Earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors with a nine-tackle, two-sack performance vs. Wisconsin Stopped the Badgers on two third downs and one fourth-down attempt Forced a fumble while also recording a quarterback hurry and pass batted down against UW Recovered a fumble, sacked QB Zack Mills on a two-point conversion attempt and blocked an extra point vs. Penn State Recovered a fumble and broke up one pass against Indiana Team-high nine tackles and a sack against Minnesota Batted down one ball at the line of scrimmage, while also posting three tackles against Michigan Recorded first sack of the season vs. SJSU along with five tackles Four solo tackles, two for loss, one PBU and one QB hurry vs. ASU Had two tackles for loss and seven tackles at Southern Miss Had three tackles, one for loss and Blocked an extra point vs. Missouri.
2001: Split time at defensive end with Terrell Washington Team leader in forced fumbles with three Had 33 tackles, six of which went for 42 yards in losses (7.0 yards) Also had four sacks for 36 yards in losses (9.0 yards) Set a career high with six tackles against Michigan Also added a sack vs. the Wolverines Had four tackles and one TFL vs. Minnesota Had four tackles vs. LSU in the Nokia Sugar Bowl Had three tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and fumble recovery vs. Louisville In addition to disrupting the opponents passing game through his speed rush, Strong broke up three passes at the line of scrimmage, including two against Northwestern.
2000: Played in seven games ... Recorded nine tackles, a sack, two quarterback hurries and a pass deflection ... Posted a career-high six tackles at Northwestern ... Had a tackle, a sack and two quarterback hurries against Iowa ... Posted two tackles at Minnesota.
High School: Named a Prep Star All-American Earned SuperPrep All-Midwest team honors Two-time first-team All-Catholic Metro Conference honors Named Chicago Sun-Times Top-30 area prospects Helped lead Mt. Carmel to consecutive 5A state championships in 1998-99 Earned six varsity letters in football, basketball and volleyball.
Personal: Full given name is Derrick C. Strong Born April 16, 1982 in Chicago The son of Eric and Valerie Strong Father is a Chicago firefighter Majoring in speech communication An honor roll student at Mt. Carmel high school Lists hitting quarterbacks as his biggest thrill in sports.
CAREER HIGHS
Tackles: 9 at Wisconsin, 11/9/02 & at Minn., 10/3/02
Solos: 6 at Minnesota, 10/3/02
Sacks: 2 at Wisconsin, 11/9/02
TFL: 3 at Wisconsin, 11/9/03
QB Hurries: 2, three times (last time vs. ASU, 9/14/02)
PBU: 1, four times (last time vs. Ohio State, 11/16/02)
Fum. Forced: 1, five times (last time at Wis., 11/9/02)
Fum. Recovered: 1, three times (last time at PSU, 11/2/02)
DEFENSIVE STATISTICS YEAR G ST AT TOT TFL-YDS QBS-YDS QH 2000 7 3 6 9 1-0 1-0 2 2001 12 21 12 33 6-42 4-36 5 2002 12 34 20 54 12-39 5-32 7 Total 31 58 38 96 19-81 10-68 14
