Texas Tech quarterback Nic Shimonek was selected Monday to represent the Big 12 Conference in the State Farm All-Star Football Challenge, which will be hosted at 8 p.m. CT Friday evening at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Television coverage will be provided nationally on ESPN2.
Tech has represented the Big 12 at the quarterback position in each of the last two State Farm All-Star Challenges as Shimonek follows current Kansas City Chiefs signal caller Patrick Mahomes II, who took part in the event a year ago.
The All-Star Challenge features 24 of college football’s top stars divided into six teams based on their respective conferences. Shimonek along with a trio of Oklahoma standouts in Ogbonnia Okoronkwo (DE), Orlando Brown (OL) and Mark Andrews (TE) will face similar teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC and a “wild card” team comprised of players from Group of Five conferences.
Individual events in the competition include the State Farm QB Accuracy Competition, the Edward Jones Hands Competition, the Samsung Lineman Strength Challenge and the Mercedes-Benz Obstacle Course. The events will conclude with all four players participating in the State Farm Team Competition.
This is the second postseason event already for Shimonek as he previously tossed the game-winning touchdown on Jan. 20 in the East-West Shrine Game. Shimonek finished 12-of-18 overall for 105 yards and a touchdown to help lead his West squad to a 14-10 victory at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
His performance in the Shrine Game followed a successful senior season where he led the Red Raiders to an appearance in the Birmingham Bowl. Shimonek completed 66.5 percent of his passes on the year for 3,963 yards and 33 touchdowns as he ranked 11th nationally for passing yards and ninth for passing touchdowns.
Following Friday’s competition, Shimonek hopes to hear his name called in AT&T Stadium once again on April 26-28 when the 2018 NFL Draft commences from the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
COURTESY OF TEXAS TECH ATHLETICS