Wake Forest senior safety Ryan Janvion, who last December was named the winner of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Jim Tatum Award as the ACC’s Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson and linebacker Ben Boulware head the 66-man 2016 All-ACC Academic Football team announced Wednesday by 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 undergraduate and/or graduate academic career.
All 14 ACC schools were represented on the team. The ACC has selected an All-ACC Academic Football team every year since 1954. Nineteen members of the team have already received their undergraduate degrees.
The team was chosen from a pool of 143 ACC football student-athletes who were nominated by their schools.
Janvion, a redshirt senior from Pembroke Pines, Florida, was a finalist for the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame’s Campbell Trophy, which goes to the nation’s top football scholar-athlete. As such, he was named one of the NFF’s National Scholar-Athletes and winner of one of its coveted post-graduate scholarships.
Watson, a junior in eligibility from Gainesville, Georgia, led Clemson to the National Championship and was named the winner of the Davey O’Brien and Manning Awards and the John Unitas Golden Arm Award, which are presented annually to the nation’s top quarterback. He leads a total of nine ACC signal callers chosen for the team.
Boulware, a senior from Anderson, South Carolina, was named a second-team All-America by six different organizations and ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches.
In addition to Janvion, Duke cornerback DeVon Edwards (Covington, Georgia) was also named a Campbell Trophy finalist and a Scholar-Athlete by the National Football Foundation. Edwards was one of 14 Duke student-athletes who were selected to the team, the most of any ACC school. Edwards, Janvion and Pitt senior offensive tackle Adam Bisnowaty (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) were named to the All-ACC Academic team for the fourth time in their careers, becoming the 23rd, 24th and 25th student-athletes to do so in the 63-year history of the team.
Joining Watson as signal callers who were selected to the team were Boston College graduate transfer Patrick Towles (Ft. Thomas, Kentucky), Duke redshirt freshman Daniel Jones (Charlotte, North Carolina), Miami junior Brad Kaaya (Los Angeles, Calif.), NC State graduate transfer Ryan Finley (Phoenix, Arizona), Pitt redshirt senior Nate Peterman (Jacksonville, Florida), Syracuse sophomore Eric Dungey (Lake Oswego, Oregon), Syracuse junior Zack Mahoney (LaGrange Park, Illinois) and Wake Forest junior John Wolford (Jacksonville, Florida).
A total of six players named to the team also received some form of All-America recognition. Clemson sophomore defensive endChristian Wilkins (Springfield, Massachusetts) was named a first-team All-American, while Clemson’s Watson and Boulware, Virginia junior linebacker Micah Kiser (Baltimore, Maryland) and Virginia Tech senior fullback Sam Rogers (Mechanicsville, Virginia) earned second-team honors. Virginia Tech sophomore linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (Danville, Virginia) was a third team All-American honoree.
Six members of the All-ACC Academic team also received some form of Freshman All-America honors, including Clemson defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence (Wake Forest, North Carolina), Duke linebacker Joe Giles-Harris (Nyack, New York), Georgia Tech offensive guard Parker Braun (Hallsville, Texas) and Wake Forest punter Dom Maggio (Monkton, Maryland), who all earned first-team honors. Duke’s Jones and Florida State offensive tackle Landon Dickerson (Hickory, North Carolina) were named honorable mention Freshmen All-Americans.
Seventeen members of the team earned some form of All-ACC recognition. Boulware, Kiser and Virginia senior punter Nicholas Conte (Roanoke, Virginia) each were named first-team All-ACC. Bisnowaty, Edmunds, Lawrence, Watson, Wilkins and Miami senior punter Justin Vogel (Tampa, Florida) were each named second-team All-ACC. Giles-Harris, Maggio, Boston College junior linebackerConnor Strachan (Wellesley, Massachusetts), Louisville sophomore offensive tackle Geron Christian (Ocala, Florida), Louisville redshirt senior center Tobijah Hughley (Lexington, Kentucky), NC State graduate transfer center Joe Scelfo (Bogart, Georgia), Pitt redshirt sophomore offensive guard Alex Bookser (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and Virginia Tech senior safety Chuck Clark (Suffolk, Virginia) earned honorable mention honors.
Eight members of the team were selected for the third time in their careers, including Boulware, Vogel, Clark, Wolford, Boston College senior defensive end Kevin Kavalec (Middleburg Heights, Ohio), Duke senior cornerback Bryon Fields (Charlotte, N.C.), Pitt senior tight end Scott Orndoff (Waynesboro, Pennsylvania) and Virginia Tech junior cornerback Brandon Facyson (Newnan, Georgia).
Four members of the team earned CoSIDA Academic All-American honors. Duke redshirt senior defensive tackle A. J. Wolf (Greenwich, Connecticut) and Syracuse senior tight end Cameron MacPherson (Syracuse, New York) were first team CoSIDA Academic All-American selections, while Virginia’s Kiser and Boston College’s Kavalec were second-team honorees.
Duke led all schools with 14 selections, followed by Boston College, Pitt and Wake Forest with six each, Syracuse and Virginia Tech with five, and Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami and NC State with four apiece. Virginia had three players chosen, followed by Louisville (2), North Carolina (2) and Florida State (one).
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