UCF senior safety Lyle Dankenbring received one of the most prestigious honors in college football Thursday. A native of Palm City, he was named a Capital One Academic All-American, becoming the fourth Knight in school history to serve as an academic All-American.
Dankenbring was honored with a spot on the Capital One Academic All-America Second Team, and joins Ricot Joseph (2001, second team), Keith Shologan (2007, first team) and Rocky Ross (2009, second team) on the list of UCF academic All-Americans.
Meanwhile, Dankenbring was one of just two players from Conference USA as well as two from a college in the state of Florida who received academic All-American distinction Thursday.
Earlier in the season, Dankenbring was named a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation’s William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes an individual as the best football scholar-athlete in the nation.
Dankenbring received his bachelor’s degree in political science in 2011, and has registered four-straight 4.0 semesters while working on his master’s degree in social science education. On the field, he entered the 2012 campaign with 44 career tackles and one interception. This year he has 45 tackles overall and two interceptions.
Against UAB, Dankenbring ran back an interception 78 yards for a touchdown, marking the Knights’ fifth-longest interception return in school history.
Dankenbring and the Knights (9-4) will get back to work after finals as they prepare for the 2012 Beef `O’ Brady’s Bowl against Ball State (9-3) on Friday, Dec. 21, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The game is one of just 10 bowl contests where both teams have at least nine victories.
For ticket information, contact the UCF Ticket Office at 407-823-1000 or visit UCFAthletics.com.