Gattis, Plackemeier Named Sports Illustrated All-Americans
12/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 6, 2005
Winston-Salem, N.C. -- Wake Forest's Josh Gattis and Ryan Plackemeier were named to Sports Illustrated's All-America football teams, the publication announced on Tuesday. Plackemeier was selected to the first team while Gattis earned honorable mention.
Gattis, a junior from Durham, N.C., had five interceptions to lead the Deacons and tie for the ACC lead. He returned two of those interceptions for touchdowns, only one of three players nationally to score a pair of touchdowns on interceptions. Gattis had 13 special teams tackles, tied for the most in the conference. He had 12 pass break-ups to tie for the team lead and rank third in the ACC. Gattis finished the season as the team's second-leading tackler with 72 stops. Gattis was a second team All-ACC pick.
Plackemeier, a finalist for the Ray Guy Award and three-time first team All-ACC selection, leads the nation in average yards per punt and net punting. He leaves Wake Forest as the the school's, the ACC's and the NCAA's all-time leading punter with at least 200 attempts. The senior from Bonsall, Calif., shattered his own Wake Forest single season punting average record with 47.2 yards per punt. He punted 67 times for 3,165 yards and dropped 20 punts inside the 20-yardline. Plackemeier had 13 punts of at least 60 yards, three punts of at least 70 yards and an 82-yarder against NC State. The 82-yarder was the fourth-longest punt in ACC history, the longest since 1989. At Georgia Tech, Plackemeier broke a 52-year old ACC single game record by averaging 56.4 yards per punt (five punts for 282 yards).
Sports Illustrated is the second organization or publication to name Plackemeier as their first team All-America selection, joining the American Football Coaches Association.
Plackemeier is the the 10th first team All-American in Wake Forest history, the 18th overall. The most recent Demon Deacon to earn first team All-America honors was Calvin Pace in 2002.