Four Football Athletes Named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans

(AUSTIN, Texas) – Four Carnegie Mellon University football athletes were honored with recognition on the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America Division III Football Team selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Three were named to the first team with one to the second team as senior Brian Khoury (Davenport, Iowa/Bettendorf) and junior Sam Benger (Hingham, Mass.) are repeat selections.

Carnegie Mellon's four honorees marks the most by any institution this year and gives the program 51 total which ranks first in Division III. This is the first year four Tartans have received the honor and eighth time that at least three have been recognized in the same season.

Both Khoury and Benger moved up from the second team to the first team this season with senior offensive lineman W. Tyler Reid (Lees Summit, Mo./Lees Summit West) earning the Tartans' third first-team selection and senior defensive back Samer Abdelmoty (McLean, Va.) taking a spot on the second team.

Khoury is an electrical and computer engineering major with a 3.49 G.P.A. and was named the University Athletic Association's (UAA) Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight year. He finished the season with 55 tackles (31 solo), with 12.5 sacks – tied for seventh-most among Division III players nationally – and 16 tackles for-loss, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He also earned All-Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) honors for the second straight year and was a D3football.com All-Region first-team and All-America honorable-mention selection last year. Khoury holds the Tartans' career sack record with 29.5. A 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy semifinalist, Khoury has spent the past two summers as an intern with the Ford Motor Company in Michigan. He is a three-time UAA Academic and two-time PAC Academic honoree, and was a 2016 UAA President Scholar-Athlete Team member. Additionally, he often spends time mentoring a Pittsburgh teenager helping to take his mind off medical issues caused by brain tumors. Khoury has also volunteered at the Western Spring Sectional competition of the Special Olympics of Pennsylvania and with Carnegie Mellon 1,000Plus events.

Benger is a business administration major with a 3.65 G.P.A. and is one of only two juniors on the first team (seven non-seniors overall). Already the Tartans' career rushing yardage record-holder with 4,333 yards, he rushed for 1,671 yards and 26 touchdowns this season – currently second nationally among Division III players in rushing touchdowns, third in rushing yards, fifth in rushing yardage per-game (151.9) and 10th in total offense yardage per-game (159.7). He also ranks second nationally in total touchdowns (28), points (170) and points per-game (15.5). Benger earned PAC Offensive Player of the Year honors for the second straight season and also earned All-UAA first team honors this year. An AFCA, D3football.com and AP All-American in 2015, Benger has earned PAC and UAA All-Academic honors twice each and was a 2016 UAA President Scholar-Athlete Team honoree.

Reid carries a 3.74 GPA and is an electrical and computer engineering major with a minor in business administration. He was once again at the forefront of the offensive line as the Tartans recorded 500 plus yards in three games this season while he helped pave the way for Benger to break his own rushing touchdown record with 26 this year.  He has been on the dean's list in the college of engineering multiple semesters and participated in the Susan G. Komen Pittsburgh Lift-A-Thon fundraiser.  Reid is a founding father of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, volunteers for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pittsburgh and is a member of Carnegie Mellon's Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) and club lacrosse team.

Abdelmoty, a mechanical engineering major, has a 3.66 GPA and recently received a Boeing Scholarship which goes to three students in the mechanical engineering department at Carnegie Mellon who exhibit great strength, leadership, and experience in the aerospace industry. On the field, Abdelmoty closed the year ranked second on the team with 77 tackles. He collected the game clinching interception when the Tartans defeated #21 Case Western Reserve University, 26-21, to finish the regular season and recovered a fumble along with four pass breakups for the year. Abdelmoty is a Mechanical Engineering Student Advisory Council representative and vice president of the Arab student organization. Abdelmoty is working on the CERLAB Research Project where he performs research to develop an autonomous UAV system that can navigate in an indoor environment for 3D geometric measurement and inspection. This past summer he interned for Aurora Flight Sciences. He spearheaded a fundraiser event for members of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh by conducting a photo-shoot and sale of a team calendar with all proceeds going directly to the hospital.