Miami, FSU, Clemson Lead Preseason All-ACC Squad;
UNC, NC State Put Two Players Each On 27-Man Team
By Mike Waddell
North Carolina Sports Network
Florida State, Clemson and Miami — the top three schools in the media’s recent forecast for the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference football season — also had the most players voted onto this year’s preseason All-ACC football team, with new Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward (pictured above) projected as the league’s Player of the Year.
Miami, which was picked to finish third in the conference this season, led the way with five players on the 27-player All-ACC squad, which was selected via a poll of 170 media members, including David Glenn of the North Carolina Sports Network.
The Hurricanes, led by third-year head coach Mario Cristobal, were represented by Ward, wide receiver Xavier Restrepo, defensive end Rueben Bain Jr., linebacker Francisco Mauigoa and kicker Andres Borregales.
The Seminoles, who were picked to repeat as ACC champions, were represented by offensive tackle Darius Washington, center Maurice Smith, defensive tackle Joshua Farmer and punter Alex Mastromanno.
The Tigers, who were picked to finish second in the league this season, were represented by offensive tackle Blake Miller, linebacker Barrett Carter and safety RJ Mickens.
2024 Preseason All-ACC Selections
(By School)
5 — Miami
4 — Florida State
3 — Clemson
2 — Cal
2 — Louisville
2 — North Carolina
2 — NC State
2 — Syracuse
2 — Virginia Tech
1 — SMU
1 — Stanford
1 — Virginia
In the preseason ACC Player of the Year voting, Ward (71 votes) far outpaced North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton (38 votes). A 2023 first-team All-ACC selection and consensus All-American for the Tar Heels, Hampton had 253 carries for 1,504 yards as a sophomore last season, marking the second-best single-season rushing total in Carolina history.
A newcomer to the Hurricanes, Ward spent the past two seasons at Washington State, where he was an honorable mention All-Pac-12 selection in 2023, behind Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr.
A fifth-year senior, Ward started 25 games for the Cougars (going 12-13), compiling almost 7,000 passing yards and posting 48 touchdown throws and only 16 interceptions. Ward started his college career at Incarnate Word, where he won the Jerry Rice Award as the top freshman in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in 2020, then won the Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Year honor as a sophomore in 2021.
Over the past 10 years, the ACC media correctly predicted the ACC Player of the Year three times — in 2015 (Clemson QB Deshaun Watson), 2017 (Louisville QB Lamar Jackson) and 2020 (Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence). That decade-long list of preseason POY projections and actual POY winners is listed at the bottom of this article.
2024 ACC Preseason Player of the Year
Rank/Player (Votes)
1. Miami QB Cam Ward (71)
2. North Carolina RB Omarion Hampton (38)
3. Clemson LB Barrett Carter (15)
4. Virginia Tech QB Kyron Drones (13)
5. Georgia Tech QB Haynes King (12)
6. Cal RB Jaydn Ott (8)
7. Louisville DE Ashton Gillotte (5)
8. Duke WR Jordan Moore (3)
9. SMU QB Preston Stone (2)
10. Virginia Tech RB Bhayshul Tuten (2)
11. Virginia Tech DE Antwaun Powell-Ryland (1)
The media’s preseason team features 20 returning All-ACC honorees from the 2023 season, including six first-team selections, seven second-team honorees and seven third-team picks. The complete selections for the preseason 2024 squad are listed below.
Although last year’s postseason All-ACC football team included a league-record number of major college transfers, Ward was one of only three 2024 transfers who made this year’s preseason All-ACC squad.
The preseason team’s two other “new” transfers, Virginia Tech defensive tackle Aeneas Peebles (Duke) and SMU return specialist Brashard Smith (Miami), transferred from one ACC school to another earlier this year. Both previously have received postseason All-ACC recognition.
2024 Preseason All-ACC Football Team
Pos.: Name, School (Votes)
Offense
QB: Cam Ward, Miami (85)
RB: Omarion Hampton, North Carolina (114)
RB: Jaydn Ott, Cal (70)
WR: Kevin “KC” Concepcion, NC State (119)
WR: Xavier Restrepo, Miami (93)
WR: Elic Ayomanor, Stanford (42)
TE: Oronde Gadsden II, Syracuse (48)
AP: Jaydn Ott, Cal (49)
OT: Darius Washington, Florida State (93)
OT: Blake Miller, Clemson (53)
OG: Willie Lampkin, North Carolina (64)
OG: Michael Gonzalez, Louisville (56)
OC: Maurice Smith, Florida State (62)
Defense
DT: Joshua Farmer, Florida State (75)
DT: Aeneas Peebles, Virginia Tech (64)
DE: Ashton Gillotte, Louisville (52)
DE: Rueben Bain Jr., Miami (49)
LB: Barrett Carter, Clemson (129)
LB: Francisco Mauigoa, Miami (72)
LB: Marlowe Wax, Syracuse (67)
CB: Dorian Strong, Virginia Tech (65)
CB: Aydan White, NC State (56)
S: Jonas Sanker, Virginia (73)
S: RJ Mickens, Clemson (44)
Special Teams
PK: Andres Borregales, Miami (92)
P: Alex Mastromanno, Florida State (81)
SP: Brashard Smith, SMU (36)
Recent ACC Preseason Player of the Year Voting
Year — Preseason POY (Actual POY)
2024 — Miami QB Cam Ward (???)
2023 — North Carolina QB Drake Maye (Florida State QB Jordan Travis)
2022 — NC State QB Devin Leary (North Carolina QB Drake Maye)
2021 — North Carolina QB Sam Howell (Pitt QB Kenny Pickett)
2020 — Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence (Lawrence)
2019 — Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence (Clemson RB Travis Etienne)
2018 — Boston College RB AJ Dillon (Clemson RB Travis Etienne)
2017 — Louisville QB Lamar Jackson (Jackson)
2016 — Clemson QB Deshaun Watson (Louisville QB Lamar Jackson)
2015 — Clemson QB Deshaun Watson (Watson)
2014 — Florida State QB Jameis Winston (Pitt RB James Conner)
