Dec. 17, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; December 17, 2013 - Penn State's record-setting junior wide receiver Allen Robinson (Southfield, Mich.) hauled in three more All-America honors on Tuesday, including a first team nod from CBSSports.com, a second team selection by SI.com and joined senior offensive guard John Urschel (Williamsville, N.Y.) on the Associated Press All-America Third Team.
The 2012 and 2013 Big Ten Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year under Coach Bill O'Brien, Robinson became Penn State's 98th first team All-America selection all-time when he was named first team All-America by Sporting News last week. He is the 84th Penn State football student-athlete to earn first team All-America recognition, dating to W.T. (Mother) Dunn's selection to the Walter Camp All-America squad in 1906.
Robinson's selection gives Penn State at least one first team All-American in every season since 2005 (12 overall), with 18 first or second team All-Americans over the past nine seasons. The standout junior is the Nittany Lions' 24th first team All-American since starting Big Ten Conference competition in 1993 (28 total selections).
Robinson has now earned All-America honors from CBSSports.com (1st), Sporting News (1st), Athlon Sports (2nd), SI.com (2nd) and The Associated Press (3rd).
Robinson is the first player since at least 1985 to lead the Big Ten in receptions and receiving yardage in consecutive seasons. Robinson's combined 174 receptions and 2,445 receiving yards the past two years both rank No. 3 in Big Ten history for consecutive seasons.
A semifinalist for the 2013 Biletnikoff Award, Robinson has earned first team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches and media the past two seasons. In Penn State's eight Big Ten games this season, Robinson made 71 catches (8.9 avg.) for 984 yards (123.0 ypg), improving on his overall season averages.
The former Orchard Lake (Mich.) St. Mary's prep standout led the Big Ten with Penn State season records in receptions (97) and receiving yardage (1,432) for the second consecutive year. He had six touchdown catches this season (17 career) and a long catch of 65 yards, which went for a touchdown at Ohio State.
Robinson ranks second in school career receptions (177) and third in Penn State career receiving yardage (2,474 yds), with numbers earned almost entirely the past two seasons (3 catches for 29 yards in 2011). His eight 100-yard receiving games this year were a Penn State season record and he made 13 catches of 35 or more yards this season, including four touchdowns of 45 yards or longer.
Senior John Urschel |
In his five years on the University Park campus, Urschel has accomplished many things in the classroom, on the field and in the community. His All-America selection comes on the heels of the senior being named the National Football Foundation William V. Campbell Trophy winner.
A two-time first team All-Big Ten guard, Urschel has established himself as one of the nation's exceptional football student-athletes. A starter in all 24 games the past two seasons and the anchor of the offensive line, he has earned a 4.0 grade-point average during his Penn State career and was among seven of the 171 Scholar-Athlete nominees with a 4.0 GPA from all NCAA and NAIA divisions.
Elected a 2013 co-captain, Urschel is among the eight Nittany Lions who had earned their degrees prior to the season. He graduating with a 4.0 grade-point average in math in three years, earned his master's degree in math in one year, and is working on a second master's, in math education while maintaining his 4.0 GPA. Urschel plans to pursue a Ph.D. upon completion of his football career.
Urschel has taught a section of Math 232 - Integral Vector Calculus - this semester on the University Park campus, in addition to his academic and football responsibilities. He taught a section of Math 041 - Trigonometry and Analytic Geometry - during the 2013 spring semester. Urschel has participated in the Penn State Lift for Life, THON events, the Relay for Life and the Special Olympics Pennsylvania State Summer Games during his collegiate career.
A paper written by Urschel titled, "Instabilities of the Sun-Jupiter-Asteroid Three Body Problem" was published in 2012 in the journal, Celestial Mechanics and Dynamic Astronomy. He has a second paper accepted for publication, "A Space-Time Multigrid Method for the Numerical Valuation of Barrier Options" in the journal, Communications in Mathematical Finance, and has written two additional papers that will be submitted soon for consideration to be published.
Urschel also is among 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award. The former Canisius High School standout, who was featured on the CBS Evening News earlier this month, was an Academic All-District® selection for the third consecutive year and is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
Penn State has won 15 of its last 22 games under second-year coach O'Brien. The Nittany Lions return 16 starters for the 2014 season (8 offense, 7 defense, 1 specialist), which begins August 30 vs. No. 15 UCF in the Croke Park Classic in Dublin, Ireland.
For information on joining the Nittany Lion Club and purchasing 2014 season tickets, as well as club seating in Beaver Stadium and the Croke Park Classic, fans can visit www.GoPSUsports.com/tickets or call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
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