Clemson and NC State combined for 11 of the 27 selections on the Preseason All-ACC team as voted on by the league's media at the ACC Football Kickoff last week in Charlotte. The Tigers led the way with six selections while the Wolfpack followed with five, including quarterback Devin Leary being named the Preseason ACC Player of the Year.
The news comes just after Clemson was named the preseason favorite in the ACC, collecting 103 of the 164 possible votes to win the conference, with NC State checking in not only with the second-most votes (38), but as the only other team to receive more than eight votes for the preseason honor. Since more than 85% of the league's media think the ACC Champion will come from one of these two Atlantic Division rivals, it's not a surprise to see them well represented on the preseason all-conference team.
Competition for All-ACC quarterback was tight, but Leary was able to edge out several other nominees for the honor. Leary's vote count was the lowest among all the preseason All-ACC selections, and if you want to figure out who else was in the running look no further than the Player of the Year voting. Leary, Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman and Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke finished 1-2-3 in the balloting and combined for more than half of the available votes. Additionally, Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong and Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham finished in the top six with double-digit votes for preseason player of the year.
While Clemson did not have a quarterback near the top of the voting, the Tigers did see their strength at and around the line of scrimmage represented in the preseason all-conference honors. Offensive tackle Jordan McFadden received more votes than any player in the balloting and the Tigers had two defensive linemen -- Bryan Bresee and Myles Murphy -- collecting more all-conference votes than any other defensive player in the conference.
Check out the selections and voting for Preseason All-ACC and Preseason ACC Player of the Year below:
2022 Preseason All-ACC Football Team
(Total votes in parenthesis)
Offense
- QB -- Devin Leary, NC State (56)
- RB -- Sean Tucker, Syracuse (125)
- RB -- Will Shipley, Clemson (112)
- WR -- Josh Downs, North Carolina (128)
- WR -- A.T. Perry, Wake Forest (111)
- WR -- Zay Flowers, Boston College (104)
- TE -- Will Mallory, Miami (69)
- AP -- Keytaon Thompson, Virginia (70)
- OT -- Jordan McFadden, Clemson (127)
- OT -- Zion Nelson, Miami (82)
- OG -- Caleb Chandler, Louisville (104)
- OG -- Christian Mahogany, Boston College (67)
- C -- Grant Gibson, NC State (90)
Defense
- DE -- Myles Murphy, Clemson (120)
- DE -- Habakkuk Baldonado, Pitt (54)
- DT -- Bryan Bresee, Clemson (116)
- DT -- Calijah Kancey, Pitt (62)
- LB -- Drake Thomas, NC State (92)
- LB -- Trenton Simpson, Clemson (82)
- LB -- Payton Wilson, NC State (60)
- CB -- Kei'Trel Clark, Louisville (70)
- CB -- Josh DeBerry, Boston College (65)
- S -- Jammie Robinson, Florida State (93)
- S -- Tanner Ingle, NC State (63)
Specialists
- PK -- B.T. Potter, Clemson (99)
- P -- Lou Hedley, Miami (101)
- SP -- Josh Downs, North Carolina (57)
2002 ACC Preseason Player of the Year
1. Devin Leary, QB, NC State (40)
2. Sam Hartman, QB, Wake Forest (30)
3. Tyler Van Dyke, QB, Miami (21)
T-4. Bryan Breese, DT, Clemson (14)
T-4. Brennan Armstrong, QB, Virginia (14)
T-6. Malik Cunningham, QB, Louisville (12)
T-6. Josh Downs, WR, North Carolina (12)
8. Sean Tucker, RB, Syracuse (11)
9. Myles Murphy, DT, Clemson (5)
10. Trenton Simpson, LB, Clemson (3)
11. Jammie Robinson, S, Florida State (2)
