Notre Dame, Ind (UHND) — Jeff Samaradzjia can add another accolade to his impressive resume from the 2005 season after being named a consensus All American Monday. Samardzjia broke several Notre Dame records in 2005 including yards and touchdowns in a season with 1,249 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Samardzjia came out of nowhere in 2005 to rewrite the Notre Dame single season receiving records after not scoring a single touchdown his first two years.
His season started off with a spectacular touchdown grab against Pitt for his first career touchdown and ended with an 80 yard touchdown grab against Stanford on the first offensive play of the game.
Samardzjia was a first team All American selection by the Football Writers Association of America and the Sporting News and a second team selection by the AP and the Walter Camp Foundation among the All American teams that are used to determine the consensus team.
On top of his first and second team selections in the consensus All American considerations, Samardzjia was named a first team selection by Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com, CBS Sportsline.com, and Rivals.com.
His record setting season was also capped off by being named a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award which was ultimately won by Mike Hass of Oregon State.
Samardzjia is the first consensus All American at Notre Dame since Shane Walton received the same honor after the 2002 season and is the first Notre Dame wide receiver to win the award since 1990 when the Rocket Raghib Ismail.
The Indiana native has one year of eligibility left and will return to lead the Irish receiving corps along with Rhema McKnight and with another year in the Charlie Weis offense, more big numbers can be expected from Samardzija in 2006.
