Joe Pawelek
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Joe Pawelek (born December 8, 1986 in Corpus Christi, Texas) is a linebacker for the Baylor University Bears in the NCAA college football tournament. Pawelek is not a fancy defender, just an effective one. Despite not being the fastest and the strongest among his class, Pawelek rose to the occassion as a redshirt freshman by consistently providing the stops his team needed. By the end of his rookie year, Pawelek became one of the most decoraded first year players in the league and in the nation after receiving a number of recognitions from several media organizations. But apart from his success on the field, Pawelek has earned the respect and adulation from coaches and peers for his work in the classroom and in other social/humanitarian activties.
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[edit] Personal Life
Joseph Charles Pawelek (pronounced Pa-vel-ick) is one of Mike and Judy Pawelek's five children. He has an older brother named Michael, two younger brothers named David and John, and a younger sister named Elizabeth. A business major at Baylor University, Joe has been impressive with his performance off the field after being named as a Dean's lister in the fall of 2005 and the spring of 2006. In June of 2007, Joe organized a volunteer effort to lead his Baylor teammates in helping build homes with Habitat for Humanity and NeighborWorks Waco. He has also visited local elementary schools and participated in TAKS pep rallies, and is a regular at the St. Peter's Catholic Student Center on campus. In 2008, he was named as one of the representatives on the 2007-08 Big 12 Conference Good Works Team.
[edit] High School
Pawelek went to Smithson Valley High School in Spring Branch, Texas where he was a standout in both football and baseball. As a catcher for coach George Proctor's baseball team, Pawelek sported an overall record of 28-8, with one 12-2 record, a second-place finish in District 26-5A, and a berth in the state semifinals to earn for himself all-state and Greater San Antonio Super Team honors in addition to four first-team all-district and three academic all-district selections.
While playing as a defensive end for coach Larry Hill's football team, Pawelek lettered and was an honorable mention all-district selection as a sophomore for the Rangers, who went 14-2, won the district title and finished second in the state playoffs. As a junior, Pawelek earned second-team all-state honors after recording 131 tackles and seven sacks to help lead Smithson Valley to a 10-2 record, a district title and the Division II playoffs. As a senior, the 2003 Comal County Male Athlete of the Year registered 197 tackles and six fumble recoveries while playing as a linebacker to help lead the Rangers to a 2004 Class 5A Division II runner-up finish and a 13-3 record. One of his signature games at Smithson Valley was the Rangers' 18-10 state semifinal victory over Houston Clear Lake where Pawelek recorded 20 tackles.
He ended his high school career with a number of recognitions tucked under his belt, including the 2004 Park Place Pontiac Defensive Player of the Year award, the San Antonio Express-News' 2004-05 Boys High School Athlete of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors, and a number of all-team selections including a first team all-district, All-San Antonio, and the Associated Press honorable mention Class 5A all-state selections. He was also picked as a member of the 2004 Texas Football Top 300, the 2004 Waco Tribune-Herald Top 100 selection, and was ranked No. 2 on the San Antonio Express-News Area Top 10 and No. 40 on its State Top 50 lists.
[edit] College
After Pawelek's playoff performance against Houston Clear Lake, universities started to sway over the San Antonio native. Among those who have shown interest include Houston, Baylor and Washington State. But Pawelek, who got no more than a two-star rating from recruiting websites, was snubbed by big-time schools in the state such as Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. Deciding that UH wasn't a fit for him, and Washington State was too far, Pawelek decided to sign his letter of intent with Baylor.
[edit] 2005
Pawelek, who redshirted as a true freshman, was named as the Scout team MVP. He was also listed as a catcher on the Baylor baseball team roster but did not play during the season after redshirting. Outside the field, he was named to the fall and spring Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll.
[edit] 2006
Despite the graduation of Colin Allred and Jamaal Harper which meant a wide opening in the linebacker position, Pawelek still started his redshirt freshman year as a reserve but made it into the starting lineup on the special teams. He made his collegiate debut against TCU, coming off the bench to collect four tackles in the 7-17 loss. The following week, he finally got his chance to start and had 9 tackles with 0.5 TFL and a quarterback hurry in the 47-10 home win over Northwestern State. In the back-to-back defeats to Washington State and Army, Pawelek had 6 and 7 stops, respectively, in addition to his first career sack for a 9-yard loss and a quarterback hurry in the two-point loss to the Cougars. In the ensuing wins, Pawelek managed to record 7 tackles and a career high 4 quarterback hurries against Kansas State, before turning out one of his finest games as a rookie in the triple overtime win over Colorado where he tallied a career-best 14 stops (career-high 11 solos) and his first career interception which clinched the Bears' victory. At No.6 Texas, Pawelek had 8 stops a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry in the 32-point loss to the Longhorns before chipping in seven tackles (six solos) with one for loss and a quarterback hurry in the one-point win over Kansas. The Jayhawks victory turned out to be the last for the Bears in 2006 after dropping four straight to Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma. Nevertheless, he was able to register 8 tackles against the 22nd ranked Aggies; had a team-high nine tackles (four solos), one sack and a pass breakup against the Red Raiders; added four tackles (three solos) against the Cowboys, before ending his inaugural campaign with a three tackle performance against the 16th ranked Sooners.
Pawelek finished the season with a team leading 86 stops (46 solos), with 4.5 tackles for loss (No. 4 on squad), 2.0 sacks (tied for 2nd on team), one interception, four pass breakups (tied for 2nd on squad) and a team-high nine quarterback hurries in 12 appearances with 10 starts. His 7.17 tackles per game was not only tied for 10th in the Big 12, it also was the highest per-game average of any conference freshman. Among his postseason accolades include first team freshman All-American selections from several publications as well as Defensive Newcomer of the Year honors and a number of academic recognitions.
[edit] 2007
Entering his sophomore year, Pawelek was one of Baylor's 11 total returning starters and one of seven on defense. After seeing action on the baseball team in the sping of 2006, Pawelek decided not to compete for 2007 in order to focus his attention on the gridiron. He was also named as the team captain in August.
In the season opener, Pawelek tallied 6 stops and forced one fumble in the shut-out loss at 22nd ranked TCU. In the team's first victory over the season, Pawelek had 7 stops, with 1.5 TFLs and his first sack of the season for a 5-yard loss in the 42-17 win over Rice. The team made it two in a row against Texas State with Pawelek chipping in six tackles, one pass deflection, and one quarterback hurry in the 34-27 triumph. At Buffalo, Pawelek had nine tackles, with a pair of TFLs and a sack for a 7-yard loss in the 34-21 win over the Bulls. At Texas A&M, Pawelek had his first double digit tackle game after tallying 12 stops, including one for a four yard loss, as the Aggies snapped the Bears 3-game win streak. After an 8-tackle, 2-TFL effort in the loss to Colorado, Pawelek started a 3-game streak of his own (on double digit tackles) with 13, 11, and 12 tackles in Baylor's losses to 20th ranked Kansas, 19th ranked Texas, and Kansas State, in that particular order. He also picked up his second career interception (which he returned for 17 yards) and forced a fumble against the Longhorns while breaking up a pass and tallying a season high 9 unassisted tackles against the Wildcats. His streak was snapped against Texas Tech when he was down to 7 stops to go with 1 forced fumble against the Red Raiders before being limited to a season low 2 tackles with half a tackle for loss at the hands of the 4th ranked Sooners. He ended the season with 6 tackles in the lopsided loss to OSU.
He ended the season as the team's second leading tackler (6th in the Big 12 and #86 in the nation) with 99 tackles (40 solos), fifth in sacks (2.0, 43rd in the Big 12), second in TFLs (8.0, 28th in the league), tops in forced fumbles (3, 4th in the conference), second in fumble recoveries (2), and tied for second with 1 interception.
[edit] Career Stats
| Tackles | Tackles for Loss | Sacks | Interceptions | Misc | ||||||||||||||
| Year | Solo | Asst | Tot | Tot/G | TFL | Yds | TFL/G | Sack | Yds | Sck/G | Int | Yds | TD | Int./G | PBU | QBH | FF | K/P B |
| 2006 | 46 | 40 | 86 | 7.17 | 4.5 | 20 | 0.38 | 2.0 | 18 | 0.17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.08 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 40 | 59 | 99 | 8.25 | 8.0 | 25 | 0.67 | 2.0 | 12 | 0.17 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 0.08 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2008
- Phil Steele Preseason All-Big 12 Second Team
[edit] 2007
- Academic All-Big 12 Conference First Team
- Austin American-Statesman second-team All-Big 12
- Big 12 Conference Fall Sports Good Works Team
- Collegefootballnews.com Preseason First Team All-Big 12
- Collegefootballnews.com's #18 Preseason Player in the Big 12
- ESPN The Magazine first-team Academic All-District VI
- Phil Steele Second Team All-Big 12
- Rivals.com Second Team All-Big 12
- The Associated Press second-team All-Big 12
[edit] 2006
- Academic All-Big 12 Conference First Team
- All-Big 12 Second Team (Coaches)
- Baylor's Academic Award
- Baylor's Best Defensive Front Player
- Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll (Fall & Spring)
- Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year
- Collegefootballnews.com first-team freshman All-America
- Collegefootballnews.com's #5 LB in the Big 12
- Football Writers Association of America first-team freshman All-America
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram Defensive Freshman of the Year
- Houston Chronicle Defensive Freshman of the Year
- Rivals.com second-team freshman All-America
- San Antonio Express-News' Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year
- The Associated Press All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
- The Associated Press Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year
- The Sporting News Defensive Freshman of the Year
- The Sporting News first-team freshman All-America
- Waco Tribune-Herald Defensive Freshman of the Year
