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Lightning can strike twice. Or in this case, three times as Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei has now been selected to three All-America teams.
On Thursday, Lotulelei was named to the Walter Camp All-America and FOXSportsNext.com All-America First Teams. He adds these teams to his Athlon Sports All-American team. Lotulelei shared the Athlon Sports and FOXSportsNext.com honors with teammate Reggie Dunn, who was named to the second team by both of those publications, but is the lone Ute on the Walter Camp team.
Walter Camp is the nation’s oldest All-America team. Players were selected by vote of the Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors.
Lotulelei becomes the eighth Ute to earn Walter Camp honors and the fourth to win first-team recognition. Previous Utah first-team Walter Camp All-Americans were offensive lineman Jordan Gross (2002), kicker Louie Sakoda (2008) and punt returner Shaky Smithson (2010). Second-team Walter Camp selections include quarterback Alex Smith (2004), defensive back Eric Weddle (2006), and offensive linemen Zane Beadles (2009) and Caleb Schlauderaff (2010). All of Utah’s previous Walter Camp All-Americans, with the exception of Sakoda, are currently playing in the NFL, so there could be some foreshadowing for Lotulelei with this selection.
The 6-foot-4, 320-pound Lotulelei, a two-time first-team All-Pac-12 selection, finished the season with 42 tackles, including a team-high 11 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks. The senior also had four pass breakups, four fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles. He led the Pac-12 and was tied for second in the nation in fumble recoveries (4).
CollegeFootballNews.com projected Lotulelei to be the No. 1 overall pick for the upcoming 2013 NFL Draft before the season started. With the season in the books and Lotulelei picking up honors, he now looks to the NFL Combine to try to fulfill that lofty expectation.
Alex Rivera is the assistant sports editor of the UVU Review. You can contact him at arivera.2011@hotmail.com or through his Twitter account @A_River_Uh.
