Dineen earns All-America Second Team honors from The Sporting News
| Dineen 2018 Postseason Honors | |
|---|---|
| Sporting News Second Team All-America | |
| AP Second Team All-America | |
| AP First Team All-Big 12 | |
| Waco Tribune-Herald First Team All-Big 12 | |
| Guerin Emig – Tulsa World – Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year | |
| Sports Illustrated Second Team All-America | |
| All-Big 12 First Team – Linebacker | |
| All-Big 12 Honorable Mention – Defensive Player of the Year |
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas senior linebacker Joe Dineen Jr., was named to The Sporting News All-America Second Team, announced Tuesday. Dineen becomes the first Jayhawk to earn All-America honors from the outlet since Aqib Talib (First Team) did so in 2007.
The announcement marks Dineen’s third All-America honor of 2018 as he also picked up Second Team recognition from the Associated Press and Sports Illustrated.
Dineen, a Lawrence, Kansas native, led the Big 12 Conference in tackles for the second-consecutive year—just the second player in conference history to do so joining Texas Tech’s Lawrence Flugence (2001, 2002, 2003). Dineen turned in a career-best 147 tackles, which ranks sixth on KU’s single-season chart. His 12.3 stops per game in 2018 also ranks fourth in the FBS.
For the second-straight season, Dineen led the FBS and the Big 12 Conference in solo tackles with 108 during his senior campaign. Dineen collected 11 tackles-for-loss in 2018, giving him a KU-record 45.5 in his career, making him both the single-season TFL record-holder (25.0 in 2017) and career record-holder. Additionally, Dineen’s 391 career-tackles rank fourth in Kansas history.
Dineen was honored by the league coaches as a first-team member for the first time in his career after earning All-Big 12 Second Team honors in 2017. He was tabbed Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week twice during his senior season. Dineen is currently a Senior CLASS Award finalist. He was a Jason Witten Man of the Year semifinalist and a Lott IMPACT Trophy semifinalist after picking up its weekly award one time this season and being a weekly award nominee three other weeks. He was named Midseason First Team All-America by Sports Illustrated, an Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree and a finalist for the Pop Warner Little Scholars Collegiate Player of the Year.
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