Harrell Selected ATT National Player of the Week

LUBBOCK, Texas - Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell (Ennis, Texas) has been honored with the AT&T All-America Player of the Week award, the only major college football award chosen exclusively by fans. Harrell will be recognized during halftime of tonight's ESPN College Football Primetime Presented by Applebee's football game.

Harrell claimed the honor Thursday after going 46-of-67 for 646 yards and five touchdowns in Texas Tech's 49-45 loss at Oklahoma State. Harrell received 33 percent of the votes to beat out Syracuse wide receiver Taj Smith (30 percent), Tulane University running back Matt Forté (25 percent) and Illinois running back Rashard Mendenhall (12 percent).

Harrell was also nominated in week nine of the 2006 season, and is the first Red Raider in history to win the award. His yardage marked the fourth best single-game total in NCAA history and on Monday he was named Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Week.

"AT&T congratulates Graham for his tremendous performance for the Texas Tech Red Raiders football team last week, and we wish him the best of luck throughout the season," said Dave Garver, executive director of Business Development and Wireless Sponsorships for AT&T's wireless unit. "College football draws the most passionate fans, and this award gives them the chance to select the AT&T All-America Player of the Week all season long."

Harrell leads the nation in virtually every passing category and is averaging 490.8 yards per game. He has thrown 19 touchdown passes and is responsible for 30.0 points per game. His 643 yards of total offense at Oklahoma State is second Tech annals, while his passing total also ranks second.

On the Texas Tech charts, Harrell moved from fifth to third on the career passing yardage list and has 6,910 for his career. He trails Robert Hall in second place by 998 yards. He ranks ninth with 19 single-season scoring strikes and moves into second place with 60 career touchdown passes.

On the year, Harrell has games of 419 yards (SMU), 484 (UTEP) and 414 (Rice) in addition to Saturday's performance at Oklahoma State. His 485.2 yards of total offense on the season leads the country.

Fans can register to vote for the AT&T All-America Player of the Week throughout the season by text messaging VOTE to 87654 from a wireless phone. The four candidates for the award are revealed each Sunday on the 9 a.m. ET ESPN "SportsCenter," via text message alerts and on the Web at www.espnallamerica.com. Fans then have until 11:59 p.m. ET on the following Wednesday to participate in the voting.

There is no limit on fan voting, and each vote counts as one entry into a sweepstakes to win a trip to the 2008 BCS National Championship game in New Orleans. The AT&T All-America Player of the Week program will continue throughout the season. AT&T customers can visit AT&T's wireless NCAA® Football Portal on their handsets to view video highlights of each week's candidates, retrieve photos, check scores, track their favorite teams and download school ringtones.

In December, four finalists for the AT&T All-America Player of the Year award will be announced during a one-hour special on ABC Sports, when the Football Writers Association of America All-America team will also be announced. Fans will then get a chance to say who the best player in the nation is by voting for the AT&T All-America Player of the Year up until the Bowl Championship Series. Voting ends Jan. 4, and the winner will be announced during the BCS National Championship game on FOX Jan. 8.

Last year, University of Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn was crowned as the AT&T All-America Player of the Year after beating out Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith -- the Heisman Trophy winner -- Rutgers running back Ray Rice and Hawai'i quarterback Colt Brennan. Voting for the AT&T All-America Player of the Year was the highest total in the three-year history of the award.