Honors Continue To Roll In For Cardinal Gridders
December 10, 2001 | Football
Dec. 10, 2001
Post-season hardware continued to roll in for Liberty Bowl bound Louisville football players as Deion Branch, Dewayne White and Bobby Leffew were named to the 2001 Sporting News All-American teams announced by the publication on Monday.
Branch, a senior wide receiver, and White, a sophomore defensive end, were named to the All-American Third Team, while Leffew, a freshman defensive tackle was named to the Freshman All-American First Team.
Branch posted his second consecutive 1,000-plus yard receiving season and led Conference USA in receiving yards en route to his second straight year as a first team all-conference selection. With 1,188 yards this season, Branch fell just 21 yards shy of the C-USA single season record for receiving yards.
White, a third team All-American by The Football News and the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year, anchored a stubborn Cardinal defense and registered a league record-tying 15 sacks. A relentless pass rusher, White also logged a school-record 24 tackles for loss and now stands only one short of the school's career mark after his sophomore season.
Leffew burst into a starting roll for the Cardinals in his first collegiate game and helped U of L hold the opposition to an average of 17.75 points per game, a figure which ranked No. 10 nationally. Leffew ranked third on the squad with five sacks and 11 tackles for loss, he also picked off one pass and forced a fumble.
