Dec. 9, 2011
2011 Walter Camp All-America Teams
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Vanderbilt defensive back Casey Hayward has been named to to the prestigious Walter Camp Football Foundation All-American team. The nation’s oldest All-America squad, now in its 122nd year, was announced late Thursday.
Hayward, a senior from Perry, Ga., was named to the Walter Camp Second Team All-America squad. He becomes the first Commodore to garner All-America recognition since defensive back D.J. Moore was honored in 2008 by the Associated Press, Sporting News, SI.com and Rivals.com.
Hayward was one of five defensive backs from the Southeastern Conference to receive Walter Camp All-America recognition. Other SEC honorees in the secondary include safeties Bacarri Rambo of Georgia and Mark Barron of Alabama, and LSU cornerbacks Morris Claiborne and Tyrann Mathieu.
The Walter Camp All-America team is selected by the head coaches and sports information directors of the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision schools. The panel selected Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck as the Walter Camp Player of the Year.
Earlier this week, Hayward was named All-Southeastern Conference by both the 12 league head coaches and a panel of Associated Press sports writers. Joining Hayward with All-SEC recognition were teammates Chris Marve (R-Sr., LB), Zac Stacy (Jr., RB) and Tim Fugger (R-Sr., DE).
Hayward ranks as the SEC’s active career leader with 13 interceptions and 43 passes defended. This season, Hayward ranks third in the conference behind Rambo and Claiborne with five interceptions and is tied for the SEC lead with 14 passes defended.
Hayward’s 13 total picks is tied for second all-time among Commodores behind the 15-interception total racked up by Leonard Coleman in the early 1980s. Coleman was a consensus All-America in 1983.
Hayward also contributed 40 solo tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble this season, helping the Commodores to a 6-6 regular season and berth in the 53rd AutoZone Liberty Bowl against Big East co-champ Cincinnati. The Commodores and Bearcats play on New Year’s Eve in Memphis, with tickets available online at vucommodores.com or by phone at (615) 322-GOLD.
Walter Camp, known as “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. A former Yale University athlete and football coach, Camp is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team. The foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. Visit http://www.ncfaa.org.
