By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
After picking off seven passes during the season, Trimane Goddard is now picking up several awards.
Goddard, a starting safety with the North Carolina Tar Heels, was named to the 2008 Walter Camp All-America Second Team. He was also named to the 2008 Rivals.com All-America Third Team.
Goddard, a former standout at Roanoke High School, was named to the All-ACC First Team at safety last week.
Goddard has a career-high seven interceptions , which is tied for the national lead. It’s also tied for the third-best single-season effort by a North Carolina player.
He has 156 return yards on the seven interceptions.
The 5-11, 200-pounder has 48 tackles, five pass break-ups, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble for the Heels.
His huge season helped land Goddard, a former WDN Athlete-of-the-Year, on the All-America teams. The Walter Camp team, in its 119th season honoring players across the country, is the oldest All-America squad in the nation.
Goddard became the first North Carolina player to earn All-America honors since center Jason Brown did so in 2004.
Goddard, who has 12 interceptions and 176 tackles in his career, came up with a handful of game-clinching plays for the Tar Heels this season.
In the final regular-season game of his college career, Goddard’s interception with 20 seconds left sealed North Carolina’s 28-20 victory over Duke.
Goddard picked off Miami’s Robert Marve in the end zone to preserve a 28-24 victory over the Hurricanes on Sept. 27.
He recovered a fumble during Notre Dame’s final possession to wrap up a 29-24 win on Oct. 11. Notre Dame’s Michael Floyd caught a 26-yard pass deep inside North Carolina territory with just seconds remaining, but he fumbled the ball and Goddard pounced on it at the UNC-19.
Goddard, who was a Thorpe Award semifinalist, and his Tar Heels (8-4) will play the West Virginia Mountaineers (8-4) in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on Dec. 27. The game, which will kick off at 1 p.m. and air on ESPN, will be held at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.