Jones, Charles & Rambo Honored

FOOTBALL

Georgia redshirt sophomore linebacker Jarvis Jones has been named a Walter Camp Football Foundation First Team All-American to headline a list of three Dawgs named to the 121st group honored by the organization.

In addition to Jones, junior tight end Orson Charles and junior free safety Bacarri Rambo were both named Walter Camp Second Team All-Americans.

The nation’s oldest All-America team was announced live on ESPN’s The Home Depot College Football Awards Show late Thursday night.

Jones is the first Walter Camp First Team All-American for Georgia since punter Drew Butler earned the honor in 2009. There have been eight First Team selections for UGA since Mark Richt was named head coach in 2001 and 35 since the award began in the late 1800s.

Both A.J. Green, who is currently the Cincinnati Bengals’ leading receiver, and Justin Houston, who has 39 tackles, including three sacks, for the Kansas City Chiefs this season, were the Dawgs’ two Walter Camp Second Team All-Americans in 2010.

A 6-3, 241-pound native of Columbus, Jones is the Dawgs’ leading tackler this season with 69 stops, including an SEC-leading 19.5 tackles for loss of 103 yards and 13.5 sacks. Jones surged to No. 2 on the school’s all-time single season sack list behind David Pollack, who had 14 in 2002. Jones is currently third on the national sack list.

The Butkus Award finalist also forced two fumbles to develop Georgia into having one of the nation’s most stifling defenses. The Dawgs rank third nationally in Scoring Defense (19.6 ppg.), ninth in Rushing Defense (103.4 ypg.) and 17th in Scoring Defense (19.6 ppg.) through their run to the SEC Championship Game.

In just his first season playing on Georgia’s 3-4 defense after transferring from Southern California, Jones has been the only linebacker to start all 13 games this season. Versus top-ranked LSU in the SEC Championship, Jones had three tackles and helped hold LSU to just 12 total yards in the opening half with no first downs and only seven points on a punt returned for a touchdown.

Jones was named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week earlier this season for his performance in the win over Florida. He finished with five tackles, including four sacks, and forced a fumble as the Dawgs picked up a 24-20 win.

A 6-3, 241-pound native of Tampa, Florida, Charles leads Georgia with a team-high 44 catches for 572 yards and five touchdowns and has started the last 23 games in a row. He is the school’s all-time leader at tight end with 1,368 yards receiving, is tied with former Dawg Leonard Pope with 10 career touchdowns and is third in UGA history with 93 receptions.

Charles is a Mackey Award finalist who has served as one of the team’s captains four times during Georgia’s run to the SEC Eastern Division title. A member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll with a 3.51 GPA, Charles has also contributed on the kickoff team, PAT/field goal team and the punt return team in 2011, including blocking a punt at Vanderbilt.

Charles now catches balls from his former Plant High School (Tampa) teammate, current Dawg quarterback Aaron Murray. With 44 catches already this season, Charles is just five catches away from tying the single season school record for tight end receptions (Shannon Mitchell, 49-539-2).

A 6-0, 218-pound native of Donalsonville, Rambo is third in the nation with seven interceptions this season and is fourth on Georgia’s defense with 52 tackles. He is the team’s active leader with 12 picks over the last three seasons, which is tied for fourth among active players in the NCAA.

Rambo is also No. 2 on the NCAA’s list for active player interception return yardage with 241 yards, which ranks third in school history. Starting 25 games over the last two seasons, Rambo has anchored a Dawg secondary that ranks 12th in the nation and third in the SEC with 17 interceptions in 2011.