40  James Conklin
	Class: Senior Hometown: Atlanta, Ga. High School: West Lake HS Height / Weight: 5-11 / 235 Position: LB

Is similar to teammate and fellow linebacker Lamar Barnes in many ways ... Namely in the way he regularly goes through helmets and face masks due to his hard hitting.

2004 (Jr.): Finished second on the team in tackles with 47, one behind the team leader ... Played in all 11 games, starting the last six ... Ranked third on the squad with nine tackles for losses, adding three pass break-ups, a fumble recovery and a fumble caused ... Led WCU with eight tackles at The Citadel, tallying seven solo stops ... Registered two TFLs at Gardner-Webb and, while only getting three stops versus Appalachian State, had two TFLs ... Logged two pass break-up versus West Virginia State and caused a fumble ... His fumble recovery came in WCU's impressive defensive performance and win over Nicholls State ... In another impressive defensive performance, credited with seven tackles in a win at Elon ... Played a key role in WCU ranking 12th nationally in total defense (301.91 yards/game), the school's highest ever national rank at season's end.

2003 (So.): Played in a 12 games, garnering four starts (East Tennessee, Furman, Georgia Southern and Elon) ... Ranked sixth on the team with 42 tackles on the season, including two for losses ... Added two forced fumbles and a pass break up ... One of those forced fumbles led to WCU's 7-0 early lead at East Tennessee State ... On WCU's first punt, Conklin raced down the field and forced a fumble, which T. Alford recovered ... Two plays plater, Brian Gaither scored from two yards out ... Had a career-high eight tackles versus Furman ... Second-best outing was versus Elon, a game which he had six tackles and a forced fumble.

2002 (Fr.): Played in nine games, seeing his playing time increase first due to injuries to other linebackers then for his play on the field ... Registered 17 tackles, including two for losses ... Had an impressive start to his career with three tackles in the season opener at Liberty ... Started seeing playing time increase in the Georgia Southern game and responded with three stops ... Had a season-high seven tackles at Wofford, including one for a loss ... In the win over Chattanooga, was credited with three tackles and a forced fumble ... Only had one tackle at VMI, but is was for a loss.

Prior to Western: Named to the City Life All-South Metro first team as well as honorable mention All-State as a senior ... Tallied 170 tackles and 8.5 sacks that season to be named his team's "Best Defender" ... As a junior, registered 91 tackles and six sacks, playing in just seven games ... Also wrestled for three years at West Lake and participated in track (shot put) one year.

James Conklin's Career Defensive Statistics
                                                                   Blkd
         G   UT   AT   Tot.  TFL-Yds  Sacks-Yds  INT  PBU  FR  FF  Kick
2002     9    9    8    17     2-5        0-0    0-0   0    0   1    0
2003    12   19   23    42     3-2        0-0    0-0   1    0   2    0
2004    11   27   20    47     9-14       0-0    0-0   3    1   1    0
Totals  32   55   51   106    14-21       0-0    0-0   4    1   4    0