AZUSA, Calif. – Junior WR Jon Davis put the perfect cap on a remarkable 2007 season. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound former high school basketball standout has been named to the Victory Sports Network NAIA All-America football first team, and he also leads the largest parade of Cougars ever to be named NAIA Scholar-Athlete.

Along with Davis, punter Andrew Lutton was named to the VSN NAIA All-America second team and senior defensive end Casey Roel received honorable mention.

Davis, who had never played football until the 2005 season -- his third year at Azusa Pacific, fashioned a record-setting 2007 campaign in which he led the NAIA and was third in all of college football with 21 touchdown receptions, shattering the former school standard of 15 set by Dexter Davis (no relation) during Azusa Pacific’s 1998 NAIA championship season.

Davis caught at least 1 TD pass in 8 of the 11 games he played, and 3 times he tied the school record with 4 TD catches in a game, which included the Cougars’ 38-34 victory over nationally-ranked Whitworth College when Davis’ fourth score was also the game-winner.

“Jon was simply amazing this year,” said Azusa Pacific head coach Victor Santa Cruz. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a receiver put together the kind of season that he did, and that includes my playing days at Hawaii. Jon made spectacular catches, and he turned routine catches into big plays. He was very exciting to watch and a pleasure to coach.”

Davis’ story is hardly an untold tale. In fact, his legend grew as his numbers skyrocketed during the season. Davis came to Azusa Pacific in 2002 hoping to walk-on to the Cougars’ nationally-ranked basketball team after a prep career at Jim Elliott High in Acampo, Calif. However, he didn’t make the final cut and thus spent the next 2 years concentrating solely on his studies. In the spring of 2005 friends encouraged him to try out for football though he had never played the game, but by the second contest of his collegiate career he had his first of what is now a school record-tying 25 career TD catches.

Davis finished the 2007 season with 73 catches for 1,258 yards. He averaged 114.4 receiving yards a game, third best in the NAIA.

Lutton, a sophomore out of Seattle, Wash., became the first Cougar ever to lead the NAIA in punting, averaging a school-record 43.5 yards while breaking the former Cougar season record of 41.6 set first by Bruce Webb in 1969 and matched by Brad Kramer in 1974. Lutton also broke Kramer’s record for highest punting average in a game (min. 5 punts), averaging 51.2 yards over his 6 punts in the season-finale victory at Webber International University. Of Lutton’s 52 punts this year, 19 stopped inside the 20-yard line and less than half of his punts, 21 to be exact, were returned for any yardage.

Roel, who at 5-foot-10, 210 pounds was an undersized defensive lineman, nonetheless used his quickness to beat opposing linemen and record a team-high 19 tackles for loss in 2007, which included a team-best 8 quarterback sacks in 11 games. His best effort came in the aforementioned victory over Whitworth when he tallied a career-high 11 tackles, including 2 sacks.

Davis, who earned his bachelor’s degree in business from Azusa Pacific in 2006, is currently working on his MBA. Fellow Cougars joining him on the 2007 NAIA Scholar-Athlete team are: senior LB Mac Gebbers (international business), junior OL James Graham (finance), junior LB Greg Neale (sociology), senior RB Tyler Roach (sociology) and junior DB Brent Willard (international business).

Davis garnered addiional honors when he was named the team MVP for the 2007 season. Roel was voted the team defensive MVP, while senior QB Rudy Carlton was selected team offensive MVP. Junior NG Darrell Tupuola was honored the team’s most inspirational player, and senior Trent Sakioka was picked as the special teams MVP.

In addition to the individual awards, Azusa Pacific was named the NAIA 2007 independent champion during ceremonies at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Anaheim, Calif., earlier this month. The Cougars rallied from a slow start by winning 5 of their final 6 games to finish the campaign 6-5 against what was arguably the most difficult schedule played by an NAIA team in 2007. The Cougars played 2 NCAA Division I-AA teams and in all 7 nationally-ranked teams. They closed the season ranked No. 21 in the postseason NAIA Coaches Poll.