ACC announces 2014 All-ACC Academic Football Team

Duke senior linebacker David Helton (Chattanooga, Tenn.), who was named the winner of the Campbell Trophy as the nation’s top football scholar-athlete by the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame and also earned the ACC’s Jim Tatum Award as its top scholar-athlete, heads the 65-person 2014 All-ACC Academic Football Team announced Wednesday by ACC Commissioner John Swofford.

To be eligible for consideration for the team, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.00 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during his academic career. All 14 ACC schools were represented by at least two selections on the team. The ACC has selected an All-ACC Academic Football team every year since 1954.

The team was chosen from a pool of 128 eligible ACC football student-athletes who were nominated by their schools.

Boston College QB Tyler Murphy (Wethersfield, Conn.), who set an ACC single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback (1,184) and led all signal callers nationally, is one of  12 members of the team that have already earned their undergraduate degrees and have finished or are working on a graduate degree or second undergraduate degree. Murphy finished his master’s degree this past fall.

Helton was named the ACC’s Jim Tatum Award winner last December in Charlotte, N.C., as the conference’s top scholar-athlete and was subsequently honored as the nation’s top scholar-athlete and winner of the Campbell Trophy, the nation’s “Academic Heisman”, at the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame annual banquet in New York. He was a first-team All-ACC selection at linebacker on the ACSMA team and second-team for the Coaches All-ACC team and led the ACC in tackles in each of the past two seasons.

He was one of 13 Blue Devils selected for the team, the most of any ACC school. Syracuse had nine selections on the team followed by Pitt (8), Wake Forest (6), Miami (5) and NC State (5).

Two members of the All-ACC Academic team were named to the Capital One Academic All-America team. Helton was a first-team selection and Syracuse long snapper Sam Rodgers (State College, Pa.) was a second-team choice.

Two members of the team earned All-America honors. Offensive guard Laken Tomlinson (Chicago, Ill.) of Duke was a first-team All-American by the Associated Press, SI.com and Walter Camp, while safety Jeremy Cash (Miami, Fla.) of Duke was a second-team All-America by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), Walter Camp and Phil Steele.

Clemson wide receiver Artavis Scott (Oldham, Fla.) was named first-team Freshman All-America by ESPN.com, USA Today, College Football News (CFN) and Phil Steele. Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson (Gainesville, Ga.), NC State wide receiver Bo Hines (Charlotte, N.C.), Florida State wide receiver Travis Rudolph (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Duke running back Shaun Wilson (Charlotte, N.C.) were all named Honorable Mention Freshman All-Americans by CFN.

In all, 15 members of the All-ACC Academic team also earned some sort of selection to the conference’s All-ACC football team, including Helton and Tomlinson, who were first-team selections. Joining them were second-team picks Cash of Duke, Scott of Clemson and offensive guard Matt Rotheram of Pitt (North Olmstead, Ohio).  Seven members of the team earned third-team All-ACC honors in safety DeVon Edwards (Covington, Ga.),placekicker Ross Martin (Solon, Ohio) and punter Will Monday (Flowery Branch, Ga.) of Duke; defensive endAnthony Chickillo (Tampa, Fla.) and punter Justin Vogel (Tampa, Fla.) of Miami; and offensive tackle Sean Hickey (Murrysville, Pa.) and linebacker Cameron Lynch (Lawrenceville, Ga.) of Syracuse.

Three more Academic team members earned Honorable Mention All-ACC honors in guard  Jake Smith (Jacksonville, Ala.) of Louisville, punter Riley Dixon (Blossvale, N.Y.) of Syracuse and tight end Cam Serigne (Ashburn, Va.) of Wake Forest.

Two members of the team—Duke’s Helton and Tomlinson–earned selection for the fourth time in their careers, becoming only the 18th and 19th ACC student-athletes to do so.

Three members of the team earned selection for the third time in their careers in Martin, Monday and running back Shaquille Powell (Las Vegas, Nev.), all from Duke.

Fifteen others earned repeat selections to the team in Clemson wide receiver Daniel Rodriguez (Stafford, Va.); Edwards, running back Josh Snead (Smithfield, N.C.) and tight end David Reeves (Greensboro, Ala.) of Duke; linebacker Nathan Staub (Chestnut Mountain, Ga.) of North Carolina; fullback Tyler Purvis (Reinholds, Pa.), offensive guard Joe Thuney (Centerville, Ohio) and cornerback Jack Tocho (Charlotte, N.C.) of NC State; offensive tackle Adam Bisnowaty (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and safety Ray Vinopal (Youngstown, Ohio) of Pitt; punterRiley Dixon (Blossvale, N.Y.) and offensive guard Rob Trudo (Farrell, Pa.) of Syracuse; offensive guard David Wang (Ashburn, Va.) of Virginia Tech; and fullback Jordan Garside (Jacksonville, Fla.) and safety Ryan Janvion (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) of Wake Forest. Wang and Snead were both selected to the 2012 All-ACC Academic team while all of the others were honored last year.