Three UM Canes (not QB) named to Preseason All-ACC team. Van Dyke third for Player of Year
Miami Hurricanes offensive tackle Zion Nelson, tight end Will Mallory and punter Lou Hedley were named Wednesday to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Preseason All-ACC team, as selected in a media poll.
The man who targets Mallory and whose blind side is protected by Nelson, did not make the All-ACC preseason team — but he did get the third most votes for Preseason Player of the Year. That’s UM quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, another first-round draft prospect if he leaves after this, his third-year sophomore season. Van Dyke received 21 votes, behind Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman, who got 30 votes.
North Carolina State quarterback Devin Leary, with 40 votes, was selected as the preseason All-ACC and the Preseason Player of the Year.
Nelson, 6-5 and 316 pounds, has already been projected as a 2023 first-round draft prospect. He’s going into his fourth-year junior season, but played as a true freshman in 2019 and like the other players, gained an extra year of eligibility during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the most recent draft, the Sporting News had Nelson, from Sumter, South Carolina, as its 14th-best player available for 2023, regardless of position.
The Hurricanes (7-5 in 2021) were ranked 19th of 130 FBS teams in total offense (448.8 yards per game) and 10th in passing offense (321.2).
Mallory, a 6-5, 245-pound soon-to-be fifth-year senior, started all 12 games and caught 30 passes for 347 yards and four touchdowns. He had surgery during the spring to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, but said last week at the ACC Football Kickoff media days that he’s 100 percent healed and ready for practice to begin Aug. 5.
Punter Lou Hedley, a 6-4, 220-pound sixth-year redshirt senior from Australia, was a 2021 semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award honoring the nation’s top punter. He averaged 44.9 yards per punt on 47 punts with 11 punts of 50 yards or more. He put 19 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
UM starts the season Sept. 3 at home against Bethune-Cookman. Fall camp opens Aug. 5.
Preseason Player of the Year 1. Devin Leary, QB, NC State (40); 2. Sam Hartman, QB, Wake Forest (30); 3. Tyler Van Dyke, QB, Miami (21); 4. Bryan Breese, DT, Clemson (14); 4-t. Brennan Armstrong, QB, Virginia (14); 6-t. Malik Cunningham, QB, Louisville (12); 6-t. Josh Downs, WR, North Carolina (12); 8. Sean Tucker, RB, Syracuse (11); 9. Myles Murphy, DT, Clemson (5); 10. Trenton Simpson, LB, Clemson (3); 11. Jammie Robinson, S, Florida State (2).
2022 Preseason All-ACC Football Team (Total votes in parentheses)
QB Devin Leary, NC State (56); RB Sean Tucker, Syracuse (125); RB Will Shipley, Clemson (112); WR Josh Downs, North Carolina (128); WR A.T. Perry, Wake Forest (111); WR Zay Flowers, Boston College (104); TE Will Mallory, Miami (69); AP Keytaon Thompson, Virginia (70); OT Jordan McFadden, Clemson (127); OT Zion Nelson, Miami (82); OG Caleb Chandler, Louisville (104); OG Christian Mahogany, Boston College (67); C Grant Gibson, NC State (90).
DE Myles Murphy, Clemson (120); DE Habakkuk Baldonado, Pitt (54); LB Payton Wilson, NC State (60); CB Kei’Trel Clark, Louisville (70); CB Josh DeBerry, Boston College (65); S Jammie Robinson, Florida State (93); S Tanner Ingle, NC State (63); PK B.T. Potter, Clemson (99); P Lou Hedley, Miami (101); SP Josh Downs, North Carolina (57).
