Jones, Simonhoff named All-Americans

Edgar Jones demonstrated early in the season he was going to be a nightmare on quarterbacks.

The senior defensive end had 2 1/2 sacks in the season-opening win against Austin Peay, 2 1/2 sacks the next week against Misouri-Rolla, a sack against Jacksonville State and two sacks in a Week 4 win against Samford.

He finished the season with 12 sacks -- and a nation-leading average of 1.2 sacks per game.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive end was named Wednesday to the Division I-AA All-America first team by The Associated Press.

Senior punter David Simonhoff was named to the second team.

Appalachian State, which plays Massachusetts on Friday night for the I-AA national championship, placed four players on the first team and had two more players make the third team.

Jones, who missed one game due to injury, ranked fourth in the country in tackles for a loss per game at 1.8. He had 18 of those for 103 yards in losses, while his sacks accounted for 88 yards in losses. Jones also was credited with two quarterback hurries, two passes broken up and one forced fumble.

Jones, from Rayville, La., had four sacks and six tackles for losses in his junior season.

"Edgar Jones had a great season and is just beginning to tap his enourmous talent," first-year Southeast coach Tony Samuel said in a news release. "He worked extremely hard this season and is very deserving of this award."

Simonhoff has been no stranger to All-America teams in his career at Southeast.

He was a second-team AP All-American in 2004 and a first-team All-American in 2005 as selected by the American Football Coaches Association.

Simonhoff this season averaged 44.8 yards per punt, which ranked second nationally. He put 15 punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line. He had a long of 75 yards this season.

Simonhoff averaged 46.0 yards per kick as a sophomore and 42.8 yards as a junior. His career long of 83 yards came during his freshman season.

Simonhoff, from Coral Gables, Fla., finished behind Southern's Breck Ackley, who led the nation with an average of 45.5 yards per punt.

Simonhoff led the Ohio Valley Conference in punting average for the third consecutive season.

"David Simonhoff has just concluded a tremendous career at Southeast," Samuel said. "To be named to an All-America team for three straight years is quite an accomplishment.

"I believe both Jones and Simonhoff will have an opportunity to play at the next level."