Paul Spreen received preseason All-American honors from Lindy's Football Magazine.

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PAUL SPREEN HALFTIME

By: Dale Long -- Radio Play-by-Play Voice of the Engineers

TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- All eyes will be focused on Paul Spreen this fall for the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology football team.

The senior defensive end earned preseason All-American honors by Lindy's College Football Preview magazine after being the 2007 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference's Defensive Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-3, 255-pounder will get plenty of the attention from opposing teams as a four-year starting player and a three-year all-conference player who has led the Engineers in tackles for two of the past three seasons (he ranked second in the other year).

And, the Williams, Ind., native is generating attention from National Football League scouts, which have already came to Terre Haute for private workouts.

"There's definitely some added pressure (this season) but I just want to prove to everybody that I'm not just a preseason All-American, but that I should be a postseason All-American as well," said Spreen during a recent interview.  "I think that teams will run away from me.  That just leaves more opportunities for my teammates to make plays."

Rose-Hulman kicks off the 2008 season at home on Saturday, Sept. 6, against Indiana rival Earlham College in the Battle of the Broadsword Game at 6:30 p.m. from Phil Brown Field.

Spreen has 199 career tackles and has 41 career tackles behind the opposing team's line of scrimmage for 153 yards in losses.  He led all Heartland Conference defensive linemen last season with 62 tackles and 9.5 quarterback sacks.  Seven of those tackles and two sacks came against Earlham last fall.

"My size in combination with my speed are my best attributes (on the football field)," Spreen stated. "It's been a tough journey, with lots of hard work, but it has been worth it . . . As a senior leader, you have to make sure that everyone is in the right spot and doing the right jobs and working hard to stop the opposing team's offense." 

Another successful season may open opportunities for Spreen to play in the NFL.  He has conducted workouts for professional scouts and his name is being mentioned on players to watch for next year's NFL draft or possibly as a free agent.

"If the opportunity becomes available, I definitely want to pursue it," Spreen said.  "As a (small college) Division III player, I don’t know what (the NFL teams) are looking for from me and what role I might play in the pro ranks.  I just have to do my very best for this season (as an Engineer) and see what happens."

Besides finding success on the gridiron, Spreen has also showcased his problem-solving and team working skills as a member of Rose-Hulman’s Challenge X Sustainable Mileage Vehicle team, which competed in a national collegiate engineering design competition.  The team redesigned a Chevy Equinox sport utility vehicle from gasoline powered to a battery/bio-diesel hybrid.  The vehicle earned awards in the competition, sponsored by General Motors Corporation and the U.S. Department of Energy.

"Engineering appealed to me because I like to get my hands dirty.  For Challenge X, I was a wrench monkey (on the team)," Spreen admitted.  "I grew up on a farm so I know my way around a car.  I did a lot of the muscle work after a great group of my classmates designed the components."

As always, Spreen helped anchor the line -- on and off the football field.