The college football season has reached the halfway point, a perfect time to take a step back and evaluate which players are on track to earn All-America consideration this year.
While the landscape of the sport is dominated by two conferences, the SEC and the Big Ten, the ACC did manage to sneak four players onto CBS Sports’ midseason All-America teams, with all four coming from different teams.
Interestingly the Clemson Tigers, considered by many to be the best team in the conference, did not land anyone on the list – although the league’s worst team in Florida State did.
The only offensive player on the list is Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward, a fully deserving candidate who is also second on ESPN’s list of the top 25 players in the sport, just behind Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.
Ward has thrown for over 2,200 yards with 20 touchdowns this year, and his presence is a critical reason Mario Cristobal’s team is nationally relevant for the first time in two decades.
A pair of defensive stars also crack both the All-American roster and ESPN’s top 25 list: Defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku from Boston College and defensive back Nohl Williams at Cal.
Ezeiruaku is No. 18 in ESPN’s ranking, racking up nine sacks to lead all power conference teams. He’s also tops in QB hurries (14) and pressures (26) and is a big part of Boston College’s success this season. At this pace, he could top the ACC single-season sack record, set by former BC star Harold Landry.
Williams is No. 24 at ESPN and for good reason. The senior defensive back has an NCAA leading six interceptions, three times as many as he had last year for the Golden Bears.
Finally, the only ACC player named to the All-American roster who was not in ESPN’s top 25 is Alex Mastromanno – Florida State’s punter.
I’m not sure if it’s more embarrassing to not have anyone on the All-American roster or to only have your punter, but either way it’s not a great sign for the happenings at Florida State this season.
That’s not to take anything away from Mastromanno, who leads the country in total punting yards (1,527) and also yards per punt (49.3) through six games on the season.
With most teams playing six more games this year, the All-American rosters will certainly change. But this gives fans a good look at who have been the best players in the ACC – and all of college football – at the halfway mark of the season.