Dec. 13, 2006
WACO, Texas -- Baylor senior punter Daniel Sepulveda made it five-for-five Wednesday when he was named first-team All-America by The Sporting News. Sepulveda is Baylor's first unanimous All-America selection in 15 years.
The Sporting News also named Baylor linebacker Joe Pawelek Freshman All-America, as did collegefootballnews.com.
The five teams that make up unanimous All-America criteria are the American Football Coaches Association, The Associated Press, the Football Writers Association of America, the Walter Camp Foundation and The Sporting News.
Sepulveda is the only player nationally to earn unanimous All-America and first-team Academic All-America honors this season. In fact, Penn State linebacker Paul Posluszny, who did not appear on the Football Writers Association team, was the only other consensus All-American to also earn first-team Academic All-America honors. Psoluszny was the Academic All-American of the Year.
The 2004 and 2006 Ray Guy Award winner as the nation's top collegiate punter, Sepulveda is Baylor's fifth unanimous All-America honoree, joining Bill Glass (1956), Mike Singletary (1980), Thomas Everett (1986) and Santana Dotson (1991).
A product of Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas, Sepulveda ranks first nationally this season in punting with an average of 46.48 yards per punt, the highest single-season average in school history. Baylor ranks third nationally in net punting at 39.01 yards per punt. Baylor opponents started no better than their own 20 yard line on 52 percent of Sepulveda's punts this season (34 of 66), including 26 punts inside the 20 (39 percent) and eight inside the 10 (12 percent).
Sepulveda's career punting average (45.24 yards per punt) is the best in the history of Division I football for players with at least 50 punts. He also established an NCAA record with 94 career punts of 50-plus yards.
2006 THE SPORTING NEWS ALL-AMERICA TEAM
OFFENSE
QB Troy Smith, Ohio State
RB Darren McFadden, Arkansas
RB Steve Slaton, West Virginia
OL Sam Baker, Southern California
OL Justin Blalock, Texas
OL Joe Thomas, Wisconsin
OL Steve Vallos, Wake Forest
C Dan Mozes, West Virginia
TE Jonny Harline, Brigham Young
WR Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech
WR Robert Meachem, Tennessee
DEFENSE
DL Gaines Adams, Clemson
DL Justin Hickman, UCLA
DL Quinn Pitcock, Ohio State
DL Lamarr Woodley, Michigan
LB Dan Connor, Penn State
LB James Laurinaitis, Ohio State
LB Patrick Willis, Mississippi
DB Daymeion Hughes, California
DB Reggie Nelson, Florida
DB John Talley, Duke
DB Eric Weddle, Utah
SPECIAL TEAMS
P Daniel Sepulveda, BAYLOR
PK Justin Medlock, UCLA
KR Marcus Thigpen, Indiana
PR Desean Jackson, California
