In all, Seven BYU Players Received All-America Accolades in 2008
PROVO -- Three members of the 2008 BYU football team — wide receiver Austin Collie, offense lineman Dallas Reynolds and tight end Dennis Pitta — received All-America recognition this week from College Football News. Collie and Reynolds were named to the CFN All-America Third Team while Pitta received All-America honorable mention.
With these honors, seven Cougars have received All-America accolades for their play this past season. Collie, who has announced he will enter the 2009 NFL draft after leading the nation in receiving as a junior, previously earned first-team All-America recognition from CBSSports.com and was a second-team selection by The Associated Press, The Sporting News, SportsIllustrated.com and Rivals.com.
A senior center, Reynolds becomes the seventh Cougar to receive All-America honors for his play during the 2008 season. Pitta, a junior, was previously named to the Rivals.com Third Team and received SportsIllustrated.com honorable mention. Junior quarterback Max Hall and senior offensive guard Ray Feinga also received honorable mention recognition from SportsIllustrated.com.
CFN previously gave Cougar running back Harvey Unga All-America Sophomore Team honorable mention, while naming BYU freshman offensive tackle Matt Reynolds to its Freshman All-America First Team. In all, Matt Reynolds garnered four Freshman All-America awards in 2008. He also received first-team honors from the Football Writers Association of America and Rivals.com along with second-team recognition from The Sporting News.
BYU finished the 2008 season with a 10-3 record to achieve its third straight season with 10 or more wins. The Cougars (No. 21 USA Today/No. 25 AP) are one of eight teams to be nationally ranked in the final coaches’ poll each of the last three seasons and among only nine teams to finish in the final AP Top 25 the past three years. Only five teams in the country — Boise State, USC, Florida, Oklahoma and Ohio State — have won more games than the Cougars over the past three seasons.
Pitta, Hall, Unga and Matt Reynolds will all return for BYU in 2009 when the Cougars open the season on Sept. 5 against No. 5 Oklahoma in the inaugural college football game played in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
2008 BYU ALL-AMERICA AWARDS
Austin Collie, junior receiver
CBSSports.com First Team
Associated Press Second Team
Sporting News Second Team
SportsIllustrated.com Second Team
Rivals.com Second Team
College Football News Third Team
Dennis Pitta, junior tight end
Rivals.com Third Team
SportsIllustrated.com honorable mention
College Football News honorable mention
Dallas Reynolds, senior center
College Football News Third Team
Ray Feinga, senior offensive guard
SportsIllustrated.com honorable mention
Max Hall, junior quarterback
SportsIllustrated.com honorable mention
Harvey Unga, sophomore running back
College Football News Sophomore Team honorable mention
Matt Reynolds, freshman offensive tackle
Football Writers Association of America First Team
Rivals.com Freshman First Team
College Football News.com Freshman First Team
Sporting News Freshman Second Team