Preseason All-ACC team: No Syracuse players selected

On Monday, it was not at all surprising to see the Syracuse Orange picked last in the ACC Atlantic Division. And on Tuesday, it’s not necessarily a shock to see Syracuse shut out of the Preseason All-ACC team.

The full squad below, which only picks the first-team during preseason, but goes three-deep when the postseason squad’s selected in December.

(Total votes in parenthesis)

Offense

• QB: Sam Howell, North Carolina (118)
• RB: Zonovan Knight, NC State (96); Mataeo Durant, Duke (49)
• WR: Justyn Ross, Clemson (110); Zay Flowers, Boston College (101); Jaquarii Roberson, Wake Forest (80)
• TE: James Mitchell, Virginia Tech (77)
• AP: Jahmyr Gibbs, Georgia Tech (56)
• OT: Ikem Ekwonu, NC State (83); Jordan McFadden, Clemson (53)
• OG Zion Johnson, Boston College (82); Joshua Ezeudu, North Carolina (56)
• C: Alec Lindstrom, Boston College (77)

Defense

• DE: Myles Murphy, Clemson (108); Amare’ Barno, Virginia Tech (63)
• DT: Bryan Bresee, Clemson (120); Tyler Davis, Clemson (53)
• LB: Payton Wilson, NC State (99); James Skalski, Clemson (95); Nick Jackson, Virginia (37)
• CB: Andrew Booth Jr., Clemson (86); Tony Grimes, North Carolina (55)
• S: Bubba Bolden, Miami (100); Nolan Turner, Clemson (85)
• PK: Nick Sciba, Wake Forest (69)
• P: Lou Hedley, Miami (84)
• SP: Jahmyr Gibbs, Georgia Tech (60)

Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Again, no real qualms here. You could make the case for Andre Szmyt at placekicker, of course, and you’d be well within your rights to do so. It’s also a safe bet that freshman punter James Williams is somewhere in the conversation for all-conference honors by the end of the season, but he (fairly) has to show something first.

Other SU players that may have warranted some consideration, and very well could’ve received votes from the assembled media at ACC Football Kickoff: Linebacker Mikel Jones, cornerback Garrett Williams and wide receiver Taj Harris. After a 1-10 campaign, though, can’t blame anyone for leaving them off here.

The ACC also announced picks for preseason player of the year. Here’s how that broke down:

1. Sam Howell, QB, North Carolina (114 votes)
2. D’Eriq King, QB, Miami (11)
3. Bryan Bresee, DE, Clemson (8)
4. D.J. Uiagalelei, QB, Clemson (6)
5. Phil Jurkovec, QB, Boston College (3)
6. Zay Flowers, WR, Boston College (2)
7. Jahmyr Gibbs, AP, Georgia Tech (2)

Some seem pretty high on Georgia Tech as you can tell by the votes for Gibbs here and yesterday’s conference title vote for the Yellow Jackets. Additionally, it appears the outsized hype train has already left the station for Boston College, with both Jurkovec and Flowers getting votes for player of the year as well. While both were fine players last year, and BC put in a quality season... it’s also a bit of a stretch that either is going to put in a better campaign than Howell or King (or Uiagalelei, for that matter).

Have any picks of your own? Share yours below.