Ickey Ekwonu named preseason second-team All-American by The Athletic

NC State offensive tackle Ickey Ekwonu can add another accolade to his collection, as he’s been named a preseason second-team All-American by The Athletic. The Athletic’s All-American teams are light on ACC players in general, with just two guys making the first team (UNC’s Sam Howell and Clemson’s Bryan Bresee).

I thought maybe Payton Wilson would get a nod after finishing fourth among FBS players in tackles last season, but he doesn’t seem to have much of a national profile yet—at least not like Ickey does. Maybe if tacklin’ fuel were a metric in college football—the NFL has been using this very real and complicated statistic for years—then things would be different. Alas.

Also on the second team from the ACC are BC offensive lineman Alex Lindstrom, Miami safety Bubba Bolden, and Miami punter Lou Hedley. (Notre Dame also has several players on the two teams, if you want to count the Irish.) I’ll be surprised if Clemson doesn’t end up with more than one potential All-American by the end of the year, but I guess the Tigers have a few more unknowns than usual.