Tag: all-american team

No Michigan State Football players on AP Preseason All-America Team

Michigan State didn’t have a single player make this year’s preseason All-American Team.

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Despite some conferences postponing their season, the Associated Press still released their Preseason All-American Team last week. Although it’s not a major surprise, there were no Michigan State Football players on the First or Second team.

Michigan State’s best shot to have a player on the team was probably linebacker Antjuan Simmons, and I think that once the season resumes he could still have a chance to earn his way into that conversation.

Last year, Michigan State had two players make the AP’s Preseason All-American: defensive end Kenny Willekes and linebacker Joe Bachie.

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Irish have two stars honored as preseason All-Americans by CBS Sports

One Notre Dame star on the first team, one on the second team while a snub happens and head coach Brian Kelly gets some love as well.

The preseason accolades will be changing significantly with the absence of the Big Ten and Pac-12, but no Notre Dame player who gets nominated will care much about that. Today, 247Sports and CBS Sports, in conjunction announced their 2020 preseason All-American teams.

There was only one Fighting Irish star to make the first team, offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg. The presumed leader of the offensive line should complete his Notre Dame career with plenty of pancakes. He will literally have quarterback Ian Book’s back for the season. Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah made the second team, but safety Kyle Hamilton was omitted from the list. I think the experts overlooked the rising sophomore star as he was named to the USA Today preseason All-American second team yesterday.

It shouldn’t be ignored that head coach Brian Kelly garnered votes for coach of the year, even if another ACC coach was selected, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney. Notre Dame should be able to navigate through their ACC schedule fairly easily, with the game against the Tigers in South Bend as the contest everyone has circled on their calendars. Kelly last took home coach of the year honors during the 2018 campaign, which he led the Irish to an undefeated regular season and berth into the College Football Playoffs.

These are big honors for Eichenberg and Owusu-Koramoah, as the culmination of their collegiate careers will hopefully be very fruitful. Also, keep an eye out for Kelly and Hamilton, they could potentially be in line for some postseason recognition.

Cassius Winston named Second-Team All-American by the Sporting News

Michigan State point guard Cassius Winston has been named a Second-Team All-American by the Sporting News.

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Another day, another All-American Team honor for Michigan State Basketball star point guard Cassius Winston. Yesterday, it was announced that Cassius Winston was an NBC Sports’ Second-Team All-American. On Wednesday, he was again named a Second-Team All-American, this time by the Sporting News.

Here is what Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News had to say about Winston’s season:

“The story of Winston’s senior season cannot be told without the tragedy that affected him and his family in early November: the loss of his younger brother. It indelibly affected his play, but he seemed to recover the joy of the game and return to his typical dominance as the season progressed. His brilliance over the final five games (20.8 ppg, 6.8 apg, .623 field goal percentage) led to five consecutive Spartans wins. On his senior day, Tom Izzo was so reluctant to take him off the court he almost missed the chance to give Winston his curtain call — and the ceremonial kiss of the Spartan logo at center court.”

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MSU Basketball: PG Cassius Winston named Second Team All-American by NBC Sports

Michigan State’s star point guard Cassius Winston has been named a Second-Team All-American by NBC Sports.

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The season has concluded and Cassius Winston, inarguably, put Michigan State on his back and led them to their third straight Big Ten Regular Season Championship. Now, Winston gets to enjoy some of the fruits of his labor as award season comes into play. NBC Sports released their All-American teams on Tuesday and they named Winston to their Second Team.

From NBC Sports:

“Winston’s senior season has been one of the biggest talking points in college basketball. He has underwhelmed — understandably so — based on what was expected of him entering the season. That said, he finished the season averaging 18.3 points and 5.9 assists while shooting 42.6 percent from three for the Big Ten tri-champs, a team that will likely enter the NCAA tournament as a top three seed and one of the five most trustworthy teams in the sport. He might not have been as dominant as we expected as early as we wanted him to be, but he still had a damn good season.”

I think MSU fans will probably split hairs about this outcome, but it will never be a bad thing for a Spartan to be recognized in this way.

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