NC State offensive tackle Ickey Ekwonu can add another accolade to his collection, as he’s been named a preseason second-team All-American by The Athletic. The Athletic’s All-American teams are light on ACC players in general, with just two guys making the first team (UNC’s Sam Howell and Clemson’s Bryan Bresee).
I thought maybe Payton Wilson would get a nod after finishing fourth among FBS players in tackles last season, but he doesn’t seem to have much of a national profile yet—at least not like Ickey does. Maybe if tacklin’ fuel were a metric in college football—the NFL has been using this very real and complicated statistic for years—then things would be different.