Paea awarded Morris Trophy

Oregon State defensive tackle Stephen Paea was awarded the Morris Trophy as the most outstanding defensive lineman in the PAC 10 it was announced on Tuesday.

The Morris Trophy is a unique award given to the outstanding offensive and defensive linemen in the Pacific-10 Conference. What makes the award unique is the selection procedure, which has the starting offensive linemen in the Conference voting for the defensive winner and vice versa. It is truly a players' award.

Paea is joined by offensive tackle Charles Brown from USC as the offensive selection.

Paea, a 6-foot-1, 285-pound junior from Los Altos, Calif., also was selected first-team All-Pac-10 by the Conference head coaches. Paea was charged with clogging the middle of the Oregon State defense which allowed opponents just 114.2 yards per game on the ground. The two-year starter and 2009 co-captain started all 12 games for the Beavers and was the leading tackler among the OSU down linemen with 41 stops. Paea also was the team leader or co-leader in tackles for loss (7.5), quarterback sacks (3) and fumbles forced (4).

Brown, a 6-foot-6, 285-pound senior from Chino Hills, Calif., was named a first-team All-Pac-10 performer in voting by the Pac-10 head coaches and is a first-team All-America selection. He is a two-year starter for USC and has started all 12 games this season at left tackle. Behind the offensive line, the Trojans averaged 173.3 yards per game rushing and allowed only 17 quarterback sacks all year.

The Morris Trophy is sponsored by the Washington Athletic Club and Athletic Awards of Seattle. It was created by Traci (Morris) Drake in 1980 and named after her father, G. Patrick Morris, who was its sponsor for 29 years. Brown and Paea will be presented their awards at a luncheon at the Washington Athletic Club in Seattle in January, 2010.

PACIFIC-10 CONFERENCE--Named offensive tackle Charles Brown of USC and defensive tackles Stephen Paea of Oregon State as winners of the Morris Trophy as outstanding offensive and defensive linemen in the Conference.