 
Vaccaro earns Pro Football Weekly All-America honors
Dec. 11, 2012 AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Longhorns senior safety Kenny Vaccaro was named first-team All-America by Pro Football Weekly, the news outlet has announced. Vaccaro also earned honorable mention All-America honors from Sports Illustrated.com. The senior from Brownwood, Texas, finished with a career-high 100 tackles (59 solo) in 2012. He also tallied four tackles for loss, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, four quarterback hurries, three pass break ups and five passes defensed. He was voted 2012 team captain (along with DE Alex Okafor) at the end of the season by his teammates. Pro Football Weekly’s All-America team honors college football’s most talented players and is determined based on extensive evaluation and considerable feedback from NFL evaluators, taking into consideration how players grade out both in their assignments and by the quality of critical playing traits. A premium is placed on skill, football temperament and instincts, and the honor seeks to recognize players who the magazine expects will become outstanding pros. Production is considered, but not weighed nearly as heavily as how much of an impact players make on their teams. Extra attention is paid to traits such as toughness, intelligence and competitiveness – traits that correlate heavily to future NFL success. Vaccaro was also selected first-team 2012 All-Big 12 by the league’s coaches for the second season in a row and was named second-team AP All-Big 12 by a panel of sportswriters who cover the league. Vaccaro was selected first-team AP All-Big 12 in 2011. Vaccaro has appeared in 50 career games with 31 starts where he posted 257 tackles (161 solo), 2 sacks, 16 TFL, five interceptions, 19 pass break ups, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and 11 quarterback pressures. Vaccaro has six career double-digit tackle games and was named to the 2012 Nagurski Trophy, Bednarik Award and Thorpe Award watch lists. He was tabbed 2012 preseason first-team All-Big 12 by Athlon, Phil Steele and Lindy's magazines, was chosen to the All-Big 12 first team (coaches), second team (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) and honorable mention (AP) in 2011 and was honorable mention for Defensive Player of the Year (coaches) that same season.
|
|
