2005: Honorable Mention All-America by Street & Smith...Earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors...Ray Guy Semifinalist ... Earned the Illinois Outstanding Special Teams Award...Averaged 42.6 yards per punt on a career high 67 punts in 11 games...Kicked a season long 70 yard punt at Purdue...Punted 10 times against Ohio State, averaging 41.8 yards per punt...Had at least one 50-yard punt in 10 games...Had five 50-yard punts vs. Penn State...Punted the ball at least 60 yards in five games...Had 16 punts downed inside the 20...Had three punts downed inside the 20 in two games vs. Indiana and Ohio State...Rated the No. 3 Punter by Lindy's...Rated the No. 6 Punter by The Sporting News... Preseason Third-Team All-America by Athlon... Preseason Second-Team All-Big Ten by Athlon...Preseason Second-Team All-Big Ten by Lindy's...Preseason Second-Team All-Big Ten by collegefootballnews.com... Kicked 35 kickoffs with 24 touchbacks...Five touchbacks came against Rutgers...Averaged 60.9 yards per kickoff.

2004: Ray Guy Award semifinalist ... First-team All-Big Ten selection by the Coaches and second-team by the media ... Named the Most Underrated Player in the Big Ten by Sports Illustrated ... Was the team's Special Teams Player of the Year ... Ranked second in the Big Ten and fourth in the nation in punting average ... Team ranked 10th in the nation in net punting ... Punted 57 times for 2,589 yards for an average of 45.4, which breaks the school record of 44.5 that he set in 2003 ... Had 23 punts downed inside the 20-yard line and had 19 punts over 50 yards ... Averaged a career-best 53.2 yards on five kicks vs. Michigan State and had four kicks over 50 yards ... That average is the third best in UI history ... Booted six balls 272 yards vs. Iowa, including a career-best 79-yarder with two punts of 50+ yards and two downed inside the 20-yard line ... Tied his career-high with eight punts vs. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and Northwestern ... Racked up a career-high 372 yards vs. Minnesota with four kicks over 50 yards and five punts downed inside the 20 ... Totaled 357 yards vs. Wisconsin and had two punts of 50+ yards and two downed inside the 20-yard line ... Had 368 yards vs the Hoosiers with three punts over 50 yards and six of his eight punts downed inside the 20-yard line ... Punted eight times for 353 yards with two downed inside the 20-yard line vs. Northwestern ... Was 1-of-3 on field goal attempts, hitting a 48-yarder vs. Purdue ... Scored a touchdown vs. Northwestern, rushing two yards on a fake field goal ... Rushed for 12 yards on fourth-and-11 to pick up a critical first down in a victory over Indiana ... Also made seven tackles, five solo, for the year ... Competed for the Illinois track team, taking third in the heptathlon at the Big Ten Indoor Championships ... Set the school heptathlon record with 5,365 points.

2003: Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selection ... With 46 kicks for 2,045 yards, he averaged 44.5 yards per kick, to break the school record for average yards per kick of 43.0 set by Dike Eddleman in 1948 ... Ranked second in the Big Ten and 12th in the nation in punting average ... Booted 16 kicks of 50 yards or more ... Had eight punts downed inside the 20-yard line ... Voted the team's Special Teams Player of the Year ... Handled punting duties in nine games and had an average over 45.0 six times ... Had a career day vs. Minnesota, punting seven times for 315 yards, including a career-long 66-yard kick, four punts of 50+ yards and three kicks downed inside the 20 ... Piled up a career-high in yardage at UCLA, punting seven times for 333 yards, averaging 47.6 yards per kick ... Had six punts for 285 yards vs. California, including three of 50 yards or more ... Two of his four punts vs. Michigan State were downed inside the 20 ... Had seven kicks for 317 yards at Iowa ... During the 2004 track and field season, he placed fifth in the heptathlon at Big Ten Indoors ... Competed at Drake Relays in the decathlon, placing sixth with 6,242 points.

2002: Moved into the starting punting role vs. Indiana ... Had two punts for a 40.5-yard average vs. the Hoosiers ... Averaged 39.7 yards on 23 punts ... Season-long 57-yard kick came at Northwestern ... Averaged 44.7 yards on six kicks vs. Northwestern ... Had 50+ yard punts vs. Indiana and Wisconsin ... Four punts were downed inside the 20 ... Had three touchbacks on 19 kickoffs ...Took sixth at the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships in the heptathlon.

2001: Redshirted the 2001 season.

High School: Earned three football letters for Coach Wayne Stahley at Terre Haute North High School ... Set records for most field goals in a career, best punting average and longest field goal made (55 yards vs. Lawrence North) ... Made 37-of-40 extra point attempts ... Converted on seven field goals over 40 yards ... Averaged 45.4 yards per punt and had a 4.26 second hang time ... Earned All-State honors as a kicker for two consecutive years ... Named to the All-Conference team ... Also played strong safety and had two interceptions, one for a touchdown ... Three-time All-County forward in soccer ... Earned 10 letters in track, basketball and soccer ... Named to the All-State track team three times ... Set a junior Olympic record in the 4x800 meters ... Also set school record in the 300-meter hurdles (39.34).

Personal: Full name is Steven Thomas Weatherford ... Born Dec. 17, 1982, in Crown Point, Ind. ... The son of Sam and Lisa Weatherford ... Majoring in kinesiology ... Plans to be a chiropractor following graduation.

Career Highs

Punts: 10 at Ohio State, 11/5/05Yardage: 452 at Penn State, 10/22/05Average: 53.2 at Michigan State, 10/9/04Long Punt: 79 vs. Iowa, 10/30/04Inside 20: 6 vs. Indiana, 11/6/0450+ Yards: 5 vs. Penn State, 10/22/05)FGM: 1 vs. Purdue, 9/25/04FGA: 2 vs. Purdue, 9/25/04Long FG: 48 vs. Purdue, 9/25/04Carries: 1, twice (last time at Ohio State, 11/5/05)Rushing Yards: 12 vs. Indiana, 11/6/04Rush TD's: 1 at Northwestern, 11/20/04

Career Punting Statistics

YEAR      NO     YDS     AVG      LG      TB     FC     I20     BK    +502002      23     912    39.7      57       3      0       4      0      32003      46   2,045    44.5      66       6      9       8      0     162004      57   2,589    45.4      79       9     10      23      0     192005      67   2,856    42.6      70       9      8      16      0     19TOTAL    193   8,402    43.5      79      27     27      51      0     57

Weatherford Game-by-Game