ATLANTA – East Carolina senior wide receiver Zay Jones
has been named to the Walter Camp All-America Team (first-team) according to an
announcement Thursday night at The Home Depot College Football Awards. Jones
becomes the fifth Pirate in school history to earn Walter Camp All-America
honors following Terry Long (OL/1983), Robert Jones (LB/1991), Carlester
Crumpler (TE/1993) and Andrew Bayes (P/1999) – all of which were first-team
selections.
Alongside his father Robert, the Jones’ are second
father-son combo to earn Walter Camp All-America honors joining Georgia’s Kevin
Butler (PK/1985) and Drew Butler (P/2009). This is the fourth first-team
All-America honor that Jones has earned this season (others: College Sports
Madness, Pro Football Focus and The Sporting News).
A two-year team captain, Jones wrapped up his four-year
career as the NCAA FBS career (399) and single-season (158) receptions leader,
while setting new ECU and American Athletic Conference single-season standards
in catches and receiving yards (1,746).
This season, Jones led the NCAA FBS in four categories:
receptions, receiving yards, receptions per game (13.20) and receiving yards
per game (145.5). In 12 games he caught a personal-best eight touchdown passes
and registered nine double-triples (catches-yards), which included a
career-high 22 receptions for 190 yards at South Carolina on Sept. 17. His 22
grabs against the Gamecocks are the most by an NCAA FBS receiver in a game this
season and was one shy of an all-time NCAA FBS record. Jones also had a
FBS-leading 89 receptions that resulted in a first down, the most in a
single-season in the FBS since 2004.
The Austin, Texas native was a finalist for the 2016
Biletnikoff Award (outstanding receiver in college football), William V.
Campbell Trophy (best football scholar-athlete presented by Fidelity
Investments, National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame) and the
Senior CLASS Award (honoring the attributes of senior student-athletes in four
areas: community, classroom, character and competition).
A First-Team All-American Athletic Conference selection,
Jones was formally recognized as a Heisman Trophy candidate by the Heisman
Trophy Trust on Nov. 7, while being selected as a semifinalist for the Earl
Campbell Tyler Rose Award on Nov. 21. He has committed to play in the 2017
Reese’s Senior Bowl, which will be played on Saturday, Jan. 28 at Ladd-Peebles
Stadium in Mobile, Ala.
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