Dec. 1, 2005

WACO, Texas -- Baylor junior punter Daniel Sepulveda was named first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced Thursday. Sepulveda is the first Baylor football student-athlete to earn Academic All-America status since punter Ty Atteberry was a first-team selection in 1996.

A product of Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas, Sepulveda ranks second nationally in punting average at 46.18 yards per punt. That figure also ranks as the second-best single-season average in Baylor history. Sepulveda, who became the first sophomore to win the Ray Guy Award as the nation's top punter last season, has a 44.85 career average, which ranks first all-time at Baylor and sixth in NCAA history for players with between 150 and 249 punts.

Sepulveda, an accounting major at Baylor with a 3.51 cumulative GPA, holds Baylor career records for punts of 50-plus yards (66) and punts of 60-plus yards (13). He was one of three Big 12 student-athletes named to the first team.

Sepulveda is the eighth Baylor football student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors and the third first-team honoree. Don Trull (1962, 1963), Matt Clark (second team in 1986 and 1987), Mike Welch (first team in 1989 and 1990) and J.J. Joe (second team in 1991, 1992 and 1993) have earned multiple Academic All-America honors while at Baylor.

To be eligible for Academic All-America status, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.20 on a 4.00 scale and have reached sophomore standing both academically and athletically. Academic All-District teams are chosen by vote of CoSIDA members. The Academic All-America ballot is made up of student-athletes who earn first-team all-district honors.