Highland alum Ngata named an All-American

With team MVP and Pac-10 defensive player of the year honors already in the bag, University of Oregon defensive end Haloti Ngata added another honor to the collection when he was named first-team All-American by the Football Writers' Association of America.

Ngata, a graduate of Salt Lake City's Highland High School in 2002, was fourth on the team in tackles with 59, which was second in the Pac-10 among defensive tackles. He also had nine tackles for loss, including three quarterback sacks. He also broke up five passes and blocked two kicks.

He is the first Duck to be named consensus first-team all-American since Mel Renfro in 1962. He is also the first football player from a Utah high school to be named first-team all-American since BYU's Kyle Morrell (Viewmont) received the honor in 1984.

Ngata, 6-foot-5, 338 pounds, was also a finalist for the Outland Trophy and Bronko Nagurski award this year.

Ngata, who registered more than 100 tackles and 30 quarterback sacks in his senior year of high school, started as a freshman and earned first-team freshman all-America honors. He redshirted his second year after suffering a season-ending knee injury in the first game of the year.

As one of the nation's top defensive ends out of high school, he originally committed to play at Nebraska in December of 2001. He later changed his commitment to BYU before officially signing with Oregon in February 2002.