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Yahoo! Sports Names Minnifield and Nicholson to All-America Teams
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia cornerbacks Chase Minnifield and Demetrious Nicholson have both been honored on two separate Yahoo! Sports All-America teams. Minnifield has been named to the third team of the outlet’s All-America squad, while Nicholson is a second-team honoree on the Freshman All-America team.
The All-America accolades are the second of the postseason for each of UVa’s starting cornerbacks. CBSSports.com previously named Minnifield a second-team All-American, while over the weekend Nicholson picked up second-team honors on CollegeFootballNews.com’s Freshman All-America team.
Thus far this postseason Minnifield (Lexington, Ky.) has been given the Pop Warner National College Football Award as their player of the year, named a first-team All-ACC pick for the second consecutive year and was recently awarded the Touchdown Club of Richmond’s accolade as its defensive back of the year. Minnifield is No. 2 nationally among active career leaders with 13 interceptions. He is a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award and a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award & Lott IMPACT Trophy. Minnifield was named the Thorpe Award Defensive Back of the Week (Oct. 17) after helping limit then-No. 12 Georgia Tech to 24 yards passing and its lowest rushing total at the time (272).
Minnifield becomes the first Cavalier to be placed on a first, second or third All-America team since Eugene Monroe in 2008, who was listed on five different teams.
Nicholson (Virginia Beach, Va.) made his collegiate debut against William & Mary and became the first true freshman at UVa to start a season-opening game at cornerback since Kevin Cook did so in 1986 and the first true freshman at UVa to start a season-opening game at any position since offensive lineman Branden Albert in 2005. One of 15 Cavaliers to start all 12 games, Nicholson is No. 4 on the team with 56 tackles. Nicholson has two interceptions, including one against then-No. 12 Georgia Tech and is tied for No. 1 on the team with eight pass breakups with Minnifield.