Sepulveda Earns Second Guy Award
12/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sepulveda, who also earned the Guy Award as a sophomore in 2004, was announced as the 2006 winner during the Home Depot College Football Awards Ceremony at Disney's Boardwalk at the Walt Disney World Resort. He joins Mike Singletary (Davey O'Brien Award; 1979, 1980) as the only Baylor players to win a national award twice. Thomas Everett (Jim Thorpe Award; 1986) was Baylor's only other national award recipient.
"This is the last thing I expected," said Sepulveda, who sustained an ACL tear in April but returned for the season opener. "I'm so blessed that God did the healing that he needed to do for me to get back on the field. Obviously I'm thankful for coach (Guy) Morriss, all our coaches and my teammates. This is a dream ending to my career at Baylor. I really feel blessed."
A product of Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas, Sepulveda is one of only the 13 players in NCAA Division I history to earn a major national award twice. He is the first to do so in non-consecutive seasons. His career punting average (45.24 yards per punt) is the best in the history of Division I football for players with at least 250 punts. He also established an NCAA record with 94 career punts of 50-plus yards.
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).
The Guy Award is named for 2004 College Football Hall of Fame Inductee Ray Guy, widely consider the best punter in the history of the NFL. Guy, who played with the Oakland Raiders from 1973 to 1986, was an All-American at the
Past winners of the Guy Award are: Ryan Plackemeier (Wake Forset, 2005), Sepulveda (2004), B.J. Sander (
Also Thursday, Sepulveda moved one step closer to becoming Baylor's first consensus All-American in 15 years Thursday when he was named first-team All-America by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Sepulveda is the first Baylor player to be named to the Camp team - widely considered the most prestigious All-America team - since Santana Dotson, Baylor's last consensus All-American in 1991.
Sepulveda, who was named first-team All-America by the American Football Coaches Association last week, needs one more first-team selection to earn consensus All-America status. He joins William Glass (1956), Lawrence Elkins (1963, 1964), Singletary (1979, 1980), Vann McElroy (1981),
Sepulveda joined
Recognized as the father of American football, Camp served as the first head coach at Yale from 1876 to 1910.
2006 WALTER CAMP ALL-AMERICA TEAM
OFFENSE
QB Troy Smith,
RB Darren McFadden,
RB Steve Slaton,
OL Justin Blalock,
OL Jake Long,
OL Aaron Sears,
OL Joe Thomas,
C Dan Mozes,
TE
WR Dwayne Jarrett,
WR Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech
DEFENSE
DL Gaines Adams, Clemson
DL Justin Hickman, UCLA
DL Quinn
DL
LB James
LB Paul Posluszny,
LB Patrick Willis,
DB Leon Hall,
DB
DB Reggie Nelson,
DB Aaron Ross,
SPECIAL TEAMS
P Daniel Sepulveda, BAYLOR
PK Mason Crosby,
KR
