Freeman Named Second-Team Academic All-American

CLEMSON, SC – Clemson center Dalton Freeman has been named a second-team Capital One  Academic All-America team selected by CoSIDA, the College Sports Information Directors of America.  He is the first Clemson football player to make one of the two academic All-America teams since 2001 when Kyle Young and Chad Carson were both first-team selections.

Combined with his selection to the American Football Coaches Association All-America team, Freeman is the fourth football player in Clemson history to be named an All-American on the field and in the classroom in the same year.

The others who have had the All-America double are Lou Cordileone (1959), Steve Fuller (1978), and Kyle Young (2000 and 2001).

Freeman already has one undergraduate degree from Clemson and he will receive a second later this month.  He has a 3.52 career grade point average.  He was one of three ACC players named.  Dustin Hopkins, a kicker at Florida State, was a first-team selection, while Perry Simmons, an offensive lineman at Duke, was a second-team choice.

Freeman was also named one of six finalists for the 2012 Rimington Award, the honor presented each year to the top center in college football.  It was the second consecutive year that Freeman was named a finalist. He is the second two-time Rimington Award finalist in Clemson football history.  The other was Kyle Young, a finalist in 2000 and 2001.

Freeman was named a first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association last week and has helped the Tigers to a 10-2 record, a number-14 final ranking in the BCS, and a third ACC Atlantic Division Championship in his four years.  He is the first center in Clemson history to be named first-team All-American.

Freeman was a first-team All-ACC selection at center for the second consecutive year.  He is the first Clemson center to make first-team All-American and the first center to make first-team All-ACC twice.  He was also a two-time ACC Lineman of the Week this year, one of just two ACC linemen to win that honor twice.