Nov. 29, 2007
NOTRE DAME, ind. – – Fifth-year seniors John Carlson (Litchfield, Minn.) and Trevor Laws (Burnsville, Minn.) have earned second-team Academic All-America honors from ESPN The Magazine and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
A total of 50 student-athletes were selected to either the first or second team and Notre Dame was one of just seven Football Bowl Subdivision schools (formerly Division I) to have multiple recipients. No school had more than Notre Dame’s two representatives on the team. It marked the first time since 1988 that Notre Dame had multiple football players selected as Academic All-Americans in a season.
The Irish have had a football student-athlete named an academic All-American on 51 occasions in the program’s history, second-most in the nation. Notre Dame has had 38 first-team selections, 12 second-team honorees and one honorable mention member.
Carlson, a 2006 first-team honoree, finished his career with the second-most receptions and third-most receiving yards by a tight end in Notre Dame history. He led the Irish this year with 40 catches and totaled 372 yards and three touchdowns. Carlson was named a 2007 National Scholar-Athlete and is a finalist for the Draddy Award, the academic equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. He graduated in May from the College of Arts and Letters with a degree in history and finished his undergraduate studies with a 3.63 cumulative grade-point average. He is currently enrolled in the graduate studies program.
Laws was Notre Dame’s top player in 2007 and led the team with 112 tackles, eight tackles for loss and four sacks. His tackle total led the nation among all defensive linemen and ranked second all-time at Notre Dame by a member of the defensive front four. Laws graduated in May 2007 from the Mendoza College of Business with degrees in marketing and sociology and recorded a 3.583 GPA in the 2007 spring semester to help him finish with a 3.220 cumulative GPA. He is currently enrolled in the graduate studies program.
This academic year, Notre Dame has already had five student-athletes garner Academic All-America accolades, most in the nation. The Irish have now had 198 Academic All-Americans, second-most of all institutions.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
-nd-