Courtesy of UNLV
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – After enjoying a fall filled with honors and accolades, UNLV place-kicker Jose Pizano added his biggest honor on Monday by being named First Team All-America by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).
The FWAA All-America Team is presented by the GoodYear Cotton Bowl Classic. Pizano (piz-AH-no), who was named Second Team All-America by the Walter Camp Foundation on Friday, becomes just the second Rebel tabbed by the FWAA and just the sixth UNLV football player in history to make first team on any All-America list. The most-recent was Las Vegas product and star safety Jamaal Brimmer who was tabbed first team by Football News in 2003. Punter Joe Kristosik, the program’s only consensus first team All-American, was the other FWAA Rebel honoree back in 1998. Rebel legend Randall Cunningham was an American Football Coaches Association (AFCS) First Team selection as a punter in 1983; while defensive lineman Joe Ingersoll (1975) and running back Mike Thomas (1973 and ’74) were AFCA first-teamers when an upstart UNLV program was still on the Division II level. All five of the previous UNLV first-teamers are now members of the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame.
Pizano is a Super Senior who joined the Rebels after transferring from FCS program Missouri State. The native of Lehi, Utah, has shattered the UNLV record book this fall, setting new marks for field goals in a game (six) and a season (25), kicking points in a game (19) and a season (127) while also breaking the Rebel record for consecutive field goals made with 19.
The 2023 Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year previously earned Second Team All-America from Walter Camp and Sports Illustrated and was one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award, which annually goes to the nation’s top kicker. He currently sits 25-of-27 in field-goal attempts (with a long of 52) and 52-for-52 in extra points. Pizano has hit two game-winning field goals this season (vs. Vanderbilt and Colorado State) en route to earning Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Week three times.
The Rebels (9-4) are preparing to play Kansas in the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix on December 26. Ticket information is available at UNLVTickets.com.
