FIU
received 92 points favorable and five first-place votes, coach Mario
Cristobal's and the Florida International
Panthers were selected as the Sun Belt's top team for the 2012 season in a poll
of the league's coaches, the conference announced Monday.
FIU will be playing
their last season in the Sun Belt Conference this fall before moving on to the
Conference USA.
Senior
lineman Tourek Williams of FIU was selected as the preseason defensive player
of the year. Williams
had 13 tackles for loss, including five sacks last season for a team that went
8-5.
"The
approach for us is that we recruit a special kind of DNA," Cristobal said.
"It's about being hungry, being humble."
They
have a schedule that looks favorable to the Golden Panthers this fall.
