With some college football games set to kick off this coming weekend, the AP has released the 2017 All-America team
While the official start of the 2017 college football season is recognized by most as taking place on the weekend of Sep. 2, the fact is there will be college football played this coming weekend. With the games getting underway, all of the preseason accolades need to be handed out. Monday saw the release of the first AP Poll of the season, and on Tuesday, some of the best players in college football were recognized for their efforts with the release of the preseason All-America team.
Leading the way for the First Team on offense, of course, is none other than USC Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold. After his outstanding redshirt freshman season performance in leading the Trojans to the Rose Bowl win over Penn State, Darnold is entering the season as the Heisman favorite among many and has fans in Los Angeles believing that the national title will be coming back to the west coast sooner rather than later.
Aside from Darnold, the First Team offense is jam-packed with a plethora of names who have received much-deserved hype heading into the 2017 regular season.
On the First Team defensive side of the ball, there’s no shortage of big names there, with Boston College’s Harold Landry, Houston’s Ed Oliver and Florida State’s Derwin James all finding a place on the list. There will be no shortages of defensive stars this year in college football and the names on this All-America list remind you of that clearly.
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Here’s a look at the 2017 First Team preseason AP All-America team.
FIRST TEAM
OFFENSE
Quarterback — Sam Darnold, sophomore, Southern California
Running backs — Saquon Barkley, junior, Penn State; Derrius Guice, junior, LSU.
Tackles — Orlando Brown, junior, Oklahoma; Connor Williams, junior, Texas.
Guards — Quenton Nelson, senior, Notre Dame; Cody O’Connell, senior, Washington State.
Center — Billy Price, senior, Ohio State.
Tight end — Mike Gesicki, junior, Penn State.
Wide receivers — James Washington, senior, Oklahoma State; Christian Kirk, junior, Texas A&M.
All-purpose player — Quadree Henderson, junior, Pittsburgh.
Kicker — Daniel Carlson, senior, Auburn.
DEFENSE
Ends — Harold Landry, senior, Boston College; Bradley Chubb, senior, North Carolina State.
Tackles — Ed Oliver, sophomore, Houston; Dexter Lawrence, sophomore, Clemson.
Linebackers — Arden Key, junior, LSU; Josey Jewell, senior, Iowa; Azeem Victor, senior, Washington.
Cornerbacks — Tavarus McFadden, junior, Florida State; Jaire Alexander, junior, Louisville.
Safeties — Derwin James, junior, Florida State; Minkah Fitzpatrick, junior, Alabama.
Punter — Mitch Wishnowsky, junior, Utah.
You can view the Second Team AP All-America squad here.
Some of the best of the best in college football are having the limelight shined on them before the season starts, so now it’s time to see who will live up to the hype that comes with the illustrious honor of being named a preseason All-America member.