Dec. 7, 2007

Complete Release in PDF Format

University of Dayton senior tight end Matt Champa has been named to the 2007 Walter Camp Foundation Football Championship Subdivision All-America team. The team was selected by the head coaches and sports information directors of the Football Championship Subdivision schools.

Champa led all FCS tight ends in catches per game (4.92), receiving yards per game (76.8) and touchdowns (9). His 59 catches in 2007 were the third-most in a single season at UD, and his 921 yards were the second-most in a season. Both are Flyer records for tight ends. The nine TD catches tie Jim Currin for the best by a UD tight end, and are the second-highest total by any Dayton player.

On the Flyer career all-time lists, Champa finished second in TD receptions (19), fifth in catches (104) and seventh in yardage (1,588). All are UD tight end career records.

Hailing from Sagamore Hills, Ohio, Champa is a 2002 graduate of Nordonia High School. He will graduate December 15 with degrees in Leadership and Marketing.

Champa was a unanimous First Team All-Pioneer Football League selection.

Dayton was 11-1 in 2007. The Flyers were voted as FCS Mid-Major National Champions after defeating Albany 42-21 in the Gridiron Classic Bowl Game. UD was co-champions of the PFL, the school's ninth league title in the last 15 years. Dayton was also ranked #24 in the final FCS Coaches Poll.

Walter Camp, "The Father of American Football," first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp - a former Yale University athlete and football coach - is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side.

The Walter Camp Football Foundation - a New Haven, based all-volunteer group - was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting All-America teams for the Football Bowl and Championship subdivisions.