By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports
August 6, 2022
Last week we brought you our SuperWest Sports Preseason All-Pac-12 teams as voted on by our Senior Writers.
Now we’re pleased to present our inaugural Preseason All-American team.
I have selected 12 players on both the offensive and defensive units. Offensively, I went with 12 to have three wide receivers and two running backs, and on defense, I chose four linemen and four linebackers.
There were numerous difficult choices to make, particularly in the QB and RB selections, with great depth nationally at those positions this season.
The easiest of the selections were at the pass-catching positions. Despite the excellent depth there, the duo of Jordan Addison and Jaxson Smith-Njigba at WR and Brock Bowers at TE are a cut above the rest.
I only went with First-Team selections but have also listed a few players from the West Coast that were considered.
As a bonus, I have included my Heisman Trophy winner prediction as well.
Offensive Player of the Year: Bryce Young, Quarterback, Alabama
The reigning Heisman Trophy winner from Pasadena, threw for 4,872 yards a season ago while completing 66.9 percent of his passes.
He will once again have the Crimson Tide’s full complement of offensive weapons at his disposal.
Defensive Player of the Year: Will Anderson, Linebacker, Alabama
Anderson won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy last season and should repeat this fall. He led the nation last season with 2.23 tackles for loss per game, over half a TFL per game more than the next closest.
In my opinion, he should have walked away with the Heisman Trophy last season as well, or at the very least been in the top three of the voting.
Heisman Trophy: Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Wide Receiver, Ohio State
As mentioned above Anderson would have had my vote last season if I had a vote, I’d say he should win it this season, but he will not.
Discounting Anderson that would leave Young, our offensive POY to win it, but he won it last year and will not repeat.
So my bold prediction of 2022 Heisman Trophy winner is Jaxson Smith-Njigba of Ohio State.
The Rose Bowl was his coming-out party as the primary weapon in the Buckeyes’ offense and the numbers he should accumulate will earn him the Heisman (though his QB CJ Stroud could steal the thunder).
Offense
RB: TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State
RB: Bijan Robinson, Texas
RB: Zach Charbonnet, UCLA
WR: Jordan Addison, USC
WR: Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Ohio State
WR: Kayshon Boutte, LSU
TE: Brock Bowers, Georgia
OL: John Michael Schmitz, Minnesota
OL: Peter Skoronski, Northwestern
OL: Andrew Vorhees, USC
OL: Caleb Chandler, Louisville
OL: Jarrett Patterson, Notre Dame
Defense
DL: Jalen Carter, Georgia
DL: Zach Harrison, Ohio State
DL: Will McDonald, Iowa State
LB: Will Anderson, Alabama
LB: Andre Carter II, Army
LB: Trenton Simpson, Clemson
LB: Noah Sewell, Oregon
DB: Kelee Ringo, Georgia
DB: Cam Smith, South Carolina
DB: Antonio Johnson, Texas A&M
DB: Riley Moss, Iowa
Special Teams
P: Kyle Ostendorp, Arizona
Ret: Brian Battie, South Florida
AP: Jayden Reed, Michigan State
Honorable Mention (Players from the West only, in no order)
QB: Jake Haener, Fresno State
RB: Tavion Thomas, Utah
OL: Clark Barrington, BYU
OL: Jaxson Kirkland, Washington
OL: Braeden Daniels, Utah
DL: Junior Tafuna, Utah
LB: Omar Speights, Oregon State
DL: Tuli Tuipulotu, USC
DB: Kyu Blu Kelly, Stanford
DB: Clark Phillips III, Utah
RET: DJ Taylor, Arizona State
Follow Stephen on Twitter @StephenVilardo and his organization @SERCenter.
Visit his website at sercstats.com.
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