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ABILENE, Texas - Jake Mullin became the fourth male in McMurry University school history to earn American Southwest Conference Male Athlete of the Year this past weekend. Mullin, the two-sport standout in football and baseball, also becomes the first non-track athlete to win the award.

After helping turn around a football program this fall that went winless in 2007 and 2008 with 2,749 passing yards and 25 touchdowns under center, Mullin went on to earn honorable mention D3baseball.com all-America honors on the baseball diamond.

The dual-sport athlete has already become a diminishing trade in college sports, but both McMurry head coaches who coached Mullin this season, said they weren't surprised to see him excel in both.

“I wasn't surprised when he did so well with football, and then he didn't miss a beat really when he came over to us,” said McMurry head baseball coach John Byington. “Maybe it took him a week or two to get back in the grove and then he was right on top of his game here. He's just one of those unique athletes that we're very blessed and fortunate to have here at McMurry.”

McMurry head football coach Hal Mumme echoed Byington's sentiments.

“I wasn't surprised either, he's such a terrific player. He's made such a tremendous impact on our football program and of course for two years a great player in baseball,” said Mumme. “You'd be hard pressed in the conference to find somebody who has had more impact on his school than Jake has.”

Mullin had not taken a football snap since the 2006 season at Burleson High School where he led a run-heavy Wing-T offense. However, with McMurry's announcement that it would bring former NCAA Division I head coach and “Air Raid” offense originator Hal Mumme to lead the football program, he joined the team and helped McMurry to a 4-6 season. He completed 65.1 percent of his passes and threw just nine interceptions as a sophomore on the field in just nine games.

He set school records for completions, attempts and yards passing at the quarterback position in his first year with the team. The Burleson native completed 256 of 393 passes for 2,749 yards passing former McMurry all-American Braxton Shaver in all three categories. He also set the single-game school record for completions (35) and passing yards (479) in the season-opener against Trinity Sept. 5.

On the baseball diamond, Mullin competed as a junior and followed up an award-filled sophomore season by earning ASC West Division Player of the Year honors, first team all-ABCA West Region honors, and was named the fifth all-America award winner in the program's history by D3baseball.com.

He helped McMurry to its seventh-straight ASC Tournament appearance and set school records for batting average (.462) and on-base percentage (.570). Mullin led the ASC in both categories along with walks (33) and slugging percentage. The right fielder also had 11 home runs, 19 doubles and 44 RBI's along with four outfield assists in 38 games.

The ASC Male and Female Athlete of the Year Award originated for the 1999-2000 school year. Mullin joins Brad Parris (1999-2000), Cody Brotherton (2004-05) and Hann Ollison (2008-09) as the McMurry athletes to win the male portion of the award. On the female side, East Texas Baptist's Ayrika Henderson was the recipient along with Mullin for her performance on the Lady Tigers' national championship softball team. Ogonna Merrit (1999-2000), Talitha Belcher (2000-2001), and Brittany Cary (2003-04) won the female portions of the award for McMurry.