Slideshow Stanford left guard David Yankey highlights four Cardinal football players named to the Associated Press 2013 All-America team. Photo by Grant Shorin/isiphotos.com Previous Next

Stanford left guard David Yankey highlights four Cardinal football players named to the Associated Press 2013 All-America team. Yankey earned first- team honors while Trent Murphy and Ty Montgomery earned second-team honors with Shayne Skov earning a spot on the third team.

Yankey has been named All-America by every publication to date with the only the American Football Coaches Association and Football Writers Association of America remaining among the major national honor award groups. Yankey has a chance at becoming a unanimous selection with Murphy and Montgomery are both vying for consensus status with those two lists pending.

Yankey, a senior offensive guard and consensus All-American in 2012, has led one of the best position groups in the country this season as the Stanford offensive line ranked fourth nationally for fewest tackles for loss allowed/game (3.69) and 16th nationally for fewest sacks allowed/game (1.15). Yankey also helped pave the way for Gaffney to rush for over 100 yards in nine games this season.

Murphy, a fifth-year senior outside linebacker, leads the nation in sacks with 14.0, 1.5 more than any other player. He also ranks sixth nationally with 1.7 tackles for loss/game, while his 21.5 tackles for loss are third most.

Skov earned Athlon's Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honor as the catalyst behind Stanford's defense, which many consider to be the most physical in the nation. Skov led the Pac-12 in tackles with exactly 100 including 56 solo efforts. He logged 10.0 for a loss, 4.5 sacks, 10 quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles and two recoveries.