College Football: Molk, Fleener Named Mid-Season All-Americans

Lemont natives and current college football standouts David Molk and Coby Fleener were selected by Sports Illustrated last week as midseason All-American honorees.

The magazine's midseason choices were announced Thursday on SI.com. Molk, a senior center at Michigan (6-1), and Fleener, a senior tight end at Stanford (7-0), are first-team selections.

Molk, a three-year letterman, has started 36 career games at center. He started 13 games in 2010, and was named to the All-Big Ten first team by coaches and second team by the media. He was a , which is given to the nation's top center.

This year, Molk , and was once again named to the preseason watch list for the Rimington Trophy and the Rotary Lombardi Award.

Molk was a four-year starter for head coach Eric Michaelsen at . In his last three seasons (2004-2006), he helped the Indians post a 27-7 record, which included the program's first-ever IHSA playoff quarterfinal appearance in 2005, when Lemont established a single-season record (since broken) for victories with a 10-2 mark.

Fleener has appeared in 38 games over the past three seasons for the No. 6 ranked Stanford Cardinal. He has 62 career receptions for 876 yards and eight touchdowns.

In January, he helped his team to a 40-12 victory over Virgina Tech in the 2011 Discover Orange Bowl. Fleener caught six passes for 173 yards and three touch downs, for yards receiving and tying the record for touchdown catches.

Last week, Fleener was named the John Mackey Tight End of the Week by the Nassau County Sports Commission for his performance in the Cardinal's 44-14 victory at Washington State. He caught four passes for a season-high 128 yards and a 62-yard touchdown reception.

This season, Fleener has caught 17 passes for 384 yards, and averages 22.6 yards per catch.

Prior to his time at Stanford, Fleener was an all-conference, all-area, all-state and all-academic honoree at Joliet Catholic Academy. He caught 34 passes for 706 yards and eight touchdowns during his senior year, and was rated as the top tight end prospect in the state by Scout.com.