Hopkins Produces National-Best Nine Capital One Academic All-District Selections

BALTIMORE, MD -- The Johns Hopkins University football team placed a school-record nine players on the 2011 CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District II Football Team, which was announced today. The nine selections are the most among all teams in District II and give the Johns Hopkins football program 52 Academic All-District selections in the last nine years and 78 selections since 1991. The nine selections top the previous school record of seven, which Johns Hopkins produced in 2003, 2009 and 2010.

Johns Hopkins' nine selections are also the most of any NCAA Division III school in the nation, represent more than half of the 17 produced by the 10 football-playing schools in the Centennial Conference and nine of the 11 selections produced by football-playing schools in the state of Maryland.

JHU's nine selections included five repeat selections as senior running back Nick Fazio (McMurray, PA/Peters Township), senior linebacker Ryan Piatek (Sewell, NJ/Bishop Eustace), senior offensive lineman Doug Drummond (While Plains, NY/Iona Prep), senior wide receiver Sam Wernick (Dallas, TX/Dallas Jesuit) and senior defensive end Kale Sweeney(Schnecksville, PA/Parkland) were all selected after making the team last year. This is Wernick's third selection to go along with one selection as a baseball player in the spring.

Joining the repeat selections for Johns Hopkins on the 2011 team are senior offensive lineman Roland Massimino (Lake Barrington, IL/Barrington), senior cornerback Sam Eagleson (Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin), senior defensive lineman Brian Peters (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) and senior safety Michael Milano(Allentown, PA/Allentown Central Catholic).

All nine players now go on the ballot for national Capital One Academic All-America honors. The national team will be announced on December 6.

Fazio is majoring in economics and boasts a 3.50 cumulative grade point average. He currently ranks second on the team in rushing with 276 yards and six touchdowns. His six rushing TDs this season improve his career total to 18, which ties him for ninth place in school history. He has been an active volunteer with the Pen Lucy Youth Mentoring program in Baltimore and was named to the 2010 Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll.

Piatek is Johns Hopkins' career active leader in tackles (234) and currently ranks fourth on the team in tackles this season (41) despite missing two full games with an injury. He interned with Bloomberg L.P in the Financial Sales and Analytics Department last summer (2011) and was offered and accepted a full-time job there starting in June, 2012. A two-time All-Centennial selection, he will graduate with a degree in economics and has a 3.44 cumulative GPA.

Drummond is a key member of a Johns Hopkins offensive line that is leading the way for a unit averaging 44.2 points and 490.3 yards per game. He is the Johns Hopkins Student Athlete Advisory Committee Treasurer and spent last summer as a Research/Trading Analyst at Lapides Asset Management. He also completed a finance internship at Gulliver's Travel Associates in 2010 and is the Director of Student Recruitment with Pen Lucy's Youth Mentoring Program in Baltimore. Drummond is majoring in economics and has a 3.56 cumulative GPA.

Wernick is just the fourth three-time Academic All-District selection in JHU football history. The 2010 Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Wernick currently leads the Blue Jays in receptions (63), ranks second in TD receptions (7) and third in receiving yards (534). He ranks third in school history in career receptions (220) and receiving yards (2,913) and second in touchdown receptions (29). He also recently became just the third player in school history to top 4,000 career all-purpose yards (4,043). Wernick is majoring in political science and has a 3.53 GPA.

Sweeney rounds out JHU's repeat selections. He is majoring in public health and boasts a 3.42 cumulative grade point average. The leader of the Blue Jay defensive line, he ranks second on the team in tackles (51) and leads the team in tackles for losses (8.5) and sacks (4.5) from his defensive end spot. Sweeney interned at the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley last summer and has been active with Arrow Child & Family Ministries. In addition he is a volunteer mentor with JHU's Athletes Care initiative and has already been accepted into JHU's prestigious Bloomberg School of Public Health for Graduate School.

Massimino, who transferred to Johns Hopkins prior to the 2010 season, has been a mainstay at left tackle for the Blue Jays over the last two years with starts in 20 consecutive games. He has helped JHU rank among the national leaders in points (44.2) and yards per game (490.3) this season. A mathematics major with a 3.69 GPA, he interned at Capital One last summer in the Loyalty Services Division. He has served as a summer camp counselor at football and basketball camps and has volunteered as a tutor, mentor and coach at Boys and Girls clubs.

Eagleson is one of the top two-sport athletes in recent memory at Johns Hopkins as he is also a key member of the Blue Jay baseball team. A two-time Second Team All-Centennial selection in football, he ranks fourth in school history with 14 career interceptions, including a team-high three thus far this season. He also has 26 tackles and four pass breakups to his credit on the year and is one of the top pitchers in school history with an 18-1 career record and a selection as a First Team All-American in 2010. Eagleson is majoring in political science and sports a 3.36 cumulative GPA. He has volunteered with a Homeless Shelter Program through his Church and Baltimore's Pen Lucy Youth Mentoring program.

Peters is majoring in economics with a minor in entrepreneurship and management and he currently has a 3.43 cumulative grade point average. He counts 22 tackles and one sack to his credit this season and has been very active off the field as well. He served as a Credit Risk Management Summer Analyst at Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets last summer and has also completed an internship in Equity Research at the Middleton Gardiner Group. Peters has also volunteered with the Pen Lucy Youth Mentoring Program in Baltimore.

Milano rounds out JHU's nine Academic All-District selections with his first appearance on the team. A two-time First Team All-Centennial selection at safety, he ranks fifth on the team in tackles (31) and counts 4.0 tackles for losses, three pass breakups and one sack to his credit this season. A political science major with a 3.33 cumulative GPA, he served as a judicial intern last summer and plans to attend law school next year. He has 174 career tackles to his credit and has started 31 of Johns Hopkins' last 32 games dating back to 2009.

The District II region includes Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington DC, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Kentucky. Athletes named to one of the eight All-District Teams qualify for the national ballot. To be nominated for the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-America program, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore with a 3.3 or higher cumulative grade point average and be a starter or significant reserve.

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