National Football Foundation

One of the country's most potent special teams threats, Louie Sakoda's classroom success is as impressive as the No. 10 Utes' place in the national spotlight this season.

A three-time Academic All-Mountain West selection, the San Jose, Calif., native garnered Utah's Athletics-Academics Honor Roll recognition in each semester of his collegiate career. The marketing major has been named a Mountain West Scholar-Athlete since his freshman year and was a Dean's List honoree three times. 

The two-time Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year received First Team All-America recognition as both a place kicker and a punter in 2007. Sakoda is the only dual punter/kicker in the country ranked in the top 10 nationally in both punting average (43.0 yards) and field goal percentage (88.2). He ranks fourth in the nation among active players with 9,249 career punt yards and 219 career punts, holding the school record in both categories. 

Vice president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Sakoda is involved in Team Lincoln, which organizes recess activities for at-risk children. He has also worked with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to raise money for humanitarian efforts around the world and has been a volunteer worker at the Chris Sailer National Kicking and Snapping Event in Las Vegas the past three years. 

Utah's last NFF National Scholar-Athlete was Melville Carpenter in 1964. Sakoda was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent after the 2009 NFL Draft but eventually signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. He also appeared on the rosters of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL. 

Sakoda earned his MBA from Saint Leo University in 2012 and is currently a user experience production designer for Lowe's Companies, Inc. He also founded StudioSak, a digital design agency based in Charlotte, N.C.