In 2021, the American Athletic Conference fielded some of the country’s premier defensive lines. Houston took the nation by storm by ranking among the elite in pressuring opposing quarterbacks, while Cincinnati qualified for the College Football Playoff with a slew of NFL talent.
But 2022 is a new year and zero 2021 First Team All-AAC defensive line selections return to the conference. Overall, just two of the eight all-conference defensive line honorees are running it back in the AAC for 2022 — Houston defensive end Derek Parish and SMU defensive tackle Elijah Chatman.
Parish and Chatman lead some of the conference’s premier d-lines in 2022.