BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Josh Reed became only the third receiver in school history to be named a first team All-America by the Associated Press when the team was announced on Tuesday.
In addition, linebacker Trev Faulk garnered second team All-America honors.
Reed, a junior from Rayne, La., led the nation with 1,740 yards receiving and he ranked third nationally with 7.8 receptions per contest. Reed’s 155.0 yards of total offense a game ranked 11th in the nation. Reed led the SEC in all three categories.
Already a first team All-America selection by the Walter Camp Foundation and the Football Writer’s Association of America, Reed joins Gaynell Tinsley (1935 and 1936) and Ken Kavanaugh (1939) as the only receivers in LSU history to earn first team AP status.
“This is another great honor,” Reed said. “Once again, this honor signifies the type of success the team is having. It’s a team honor and a team award and I’m proud to represent LSU and this football team on the AP All-America team.
“This has been a great season, but it’s a result of all of the hard work we did as a team during the off season. Our coaches have done a great job and once we learned to believe as a team, then good things started happening.”
Reed, who won the Biletnikoff Award last week as the nation’s top receiver, had a school-record 10 100-yard games this year for the Tigers, including a career-highs of 19 catches for 293 yards against Alabama. The 19 receptions and 293 yards were both SEC single-game records. Reed also holds the SEC mark for single-season receiving yards (1,740) and career receiving yards (3,001).
Reed is one of only three receivers in SEC history to have back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons.
Faulk, also a junior, concluded the 2001 regular season with a career-high 119 tackles, the highest total by a Tiger defensive player since 1982.
It marked the second straight year that the native of Lafayette, La., surpassed the 100 tackle mark, as he became the first Tiger to post back-to-back 100 tackle seasons since Shawn Burks in 1983 and 1984. Teammate Bradie James joined that list late in the season as well.
It marked the first time in Faulk’s career he was a member of an All-American squad. He was a first team All-SEC selection in both the AP and Coaches’ polls announced last week.
Reed and Faulk are the first AP All-America selections for the Tigers since 1998 when defensive tackle Anthony McFarland made the squad.