Miami's Cam Ward leads ACC Preseason POTY Voting, Clemson's Barrett Carter Ranks Third
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Led by Miami with five selections, nine Atlantic Coast Conference football programs had multiple players named to the 27-member 2024 All-ACC Preseason Football Team, it was announced on Thursday.
In addition to earning a spot on the preseason team, Miami senior quarterback Cam Ward was voted the 2024 ACC Preseason Player of the Year.
A total of 12 teams had at least one representative on the All-ACC Preseason Team, selected via a vote of 170 media members who were among those credentialed for last week’s ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, North Carolina.
For the second consecutive year, Florida State had four selections. Clemson followed with three honorees, while Cal, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Syracuse and Virginia Tech all had two players named to the preseason team.
SMU, Stanford and Virginia each had one player named to the preseason team.
The nation’s leading returner in passing yards per game this season, Ward finished the regular season last year leading the Pac-12 Conference with 323 completions while at Washington State in 2023. He ranked fourth in the country with an average of 311.3 passing yards per game and was sixth nationally with an average of 323.3 yards of total offense per game. Ward tallied seven 300-passing yard games, threw 25 touchdown passes, rushed for eight touchdowns and recorded five games with one rushing touchdown and at least two touchdown passes.
Ward led the 2024 ACC Preseason Player of the Year balloting with 71 votes, followed by North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton, who was a First-Team All-ACC pick and led the league in rushing last season with 1,504 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns. Clemson linebacker Barrett Carter received 15 votes, finishing just ahead of Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones (13) and Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King (12), as 11 players received at least one vote for Preseason Player of the Year.
The 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 list also includes 2023 All-Pac-12 First-Team selection in Cal running back Jaydn Ott, who was named to the preseason team at both running back and all-purpose back after leading the Pac-12 last year in rushing yards per game (109.6) and all-purpose yards per game (135.7) which both ranked in the top 10 in all of FBS football.
2024 Preseason All-ACC Football Team
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)
- C: Maurice Smith, Florida State (62)
Defense
- DE: Ashton Gillotte, Louisville (52)
- DE: Rueben Bain, Jr., Miami (49)
- DT: Joshua Farmer, Florida State (75)
- DT: Aeneas Peebles, Virginia Tech (64)
- 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: R.J. Mickens, Clemson (44)
Special Teams
- PK: Andres Borregales, Miami (92)
- P: Alex Mastromanno, Florida State (81)
- SP: Brashard Smith, SMU (36)
2024 ACC Preseason Player of the Year
- Cam Ward, QB, Miami (71)
- Omarion Hampton, RB, North Carolina (38)
- Barrett Carter, LB, Clemson (15)
- Kyron Drones, QB, Virginia Tech (13)
- Haynes King, QB, Georgia Tech (12)
- Jaydn Ott, RB, Cal (8)
- Ashton Gillotte, DL, Louisville (5)
- Jordan Moore, WR, Duke (3)
- Preston Stone, QB, SMU (2)
- Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Virginia Tech (2)
- Antwaun Powell-Ryland, DL, Virginia Tech (1)
Votes in parentheses
170 media voters