Top MAC Football Players of 2013: #45 Cameron Truss, Bowling Green DB

The second defensive back on our list comes from one of 2012's best pass defenses in the entire Football Bowl Subdivision. Cameron Truss was part of a very experienced Bowling Green State University secondary, and that experience gave quarterbacks nightmares in virtually all of BGSU's 13 games last season.

The Falcons allowed 190.08 passing yards per game in 2012, and that was ranked 13th among the 124 FBS teams. In terms of pass efficiency, BGSU ranked 18th in the country by allowing opposing QBs a cumulative rating of 112.37. They were also tenth in the country with just 16.77 points allowed per game and ranked fourth nationally by allowing opponents to convert just 28.11% of all third down attempts.

BGSU was first in the Mid-American Conference in pass defense, scoring defense and opponent third-down efficiency and was second to Northern Illinois in opponent pass efficiency.

In other words, BGSU's defensive backs were stingy last year - very, very stingy. You should not expect that to change this year, as the Falcons return 12 of 15 letter-winning defensive backs, including all four starters. Those 12 players have combined for 123 career starts, including 99 by the four returning starters.

Truss, a redshirt senior, leads that group with 30 career starts. His 13 starts in 2012 were incredibly productive. He was fourth on the team with 63 tackles and led the team in solo tackles (50). Truss also had five pass break-ups, one forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

He led off the season with a team-high five tackles against Florida, as BGSU held the Gators to just 145 passing yards. A few weeks later, Truss had two tackles and a PBU as the Falcons held a powerful Virginia Tech offense to just 150 yards in the air.

Throughout the schedule, it seemed as if Truss' best performances came on the road. He had a pair of ten-tackle games at Akron and at Toledo, which set his season high. He also had seven tackles and a forced fumble in Bowling Green's huge win at Ohio. Truss was also one of the most active defenders in the Military Bowl, as he recorded four tackles and a PBU against San Jose State.

Truss, who was a three-time all-league member and second-team all-state selection while at LaBrae High School in Warren, Ohio, has three career interceptions to go with his 20 career PBUs.

With the loss of Chris Jones and Dwayne Woods in the front seven, BGSU's defense will rely more heavily on their secondary during the 2013 season. The experience brought to the field by Truss and his fellow ballhawks should allow them to assume that responsibility seamlessly

If Cam Truss continues to play the shut-down corner role as well as he did in 2012, Bowling Green will have a major piece of their conference championship puzzle in place.