{"id":357019,"date":"2026-07-30T01:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/357019\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T01:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:37:14","slug":"miami-uva-clemson-lead-preseason-all-acc-football-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/357019\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami, UVA, Clemson lead preseason All-ACC football team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Miami, the media\u2019s landslide choice to finish atop the ACC standings this football season, is the only program with more players than Virginia on the league\u2019s preseason all-conference team.<\/p>\n<p>Seven Hurricanes occupying nine of the team\u2019s 27 positions are among the honorees announced Wednesday. UVA and Clemson have four players each, while defensive tackle Kemari Copeland from Kellam High is Virginia Tech\u2019s lone representative.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pilotonline.com\/2026\/07\/24\/the-hulk-a-former-kellam-high-star-breaks-virginia-techs-bench-press-record-with-510-pound-lift\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018The Hulk,\u2019 a former Kellam High star, breaks Virginia Tech\u2019s bench press record with 510-pound lift<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Offensive tackle McKale Boley, guard Noah Josey, linebacker Kam Robinson and punter Daniel Sparks comprise the Virginia contingent. Robinson finished seventh in preseason ACC Player of the Year balloting with five of 188 votes.<\/p>\n<p>Miami quarterback Darian Mensah, a late transfer addition from conference rival Duke, easily won Player of the Year with 97 votes, far north of SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings\u2019 25.<\/p>\n<p>Voters had to choose among nominees submitted by the schools, so Miami sophomore Malachi Toney, who made the team as a receiver, all-purpose player and return specialist, was not an option for Player of the Year. Toney at receiver and Clemson linebacker Sammy Brown were the leading vote-getters with 164 and 139, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Toney, Mensah, running back Mark Fletcher, guard Samson Okunloah, defensive tackle Ahmad Moten, linebacker Mohamed Toure and safety Bryce Fitzgerald give the Hurricanes one selection at every level of the offense and defense.<\/p>\n<p>Eleven of the ACC\u2019s 17 teams placed at least player on the squad. North Carolina, NC State, Stanford, Cal, Pitt and Wake Forest were the exceptions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pilotonline.com\/2026\/07\/28\/miami-atop-acc-preseason-football-poll-uva-6th-virginia-tech-8th\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Miami atop ACC preseason football poll; UVA 6th, Virginia Tech 8th<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Miami joined the ACC in 2004 amid great fanfare after four consecutive seasons of at least 11 wins and the 2001 national championship, the program\u2019s fifth. The Hurricanes have never won an ACC title, but received 165 of 188 first-place votes in the preseason poll announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>David Teel, david.teel@virginiamedia.com<\/p>\n<p>Preseason All-ACC football team<\/p>\n<p>Offense<\/p>\n<p>Quarterback: Darian Mensah, Miami (112)<\/p>\n<p>Running back: Mark Fletcher, Jr., Miami (127)<\/p>\n<p>Running back: Isaac Brown, Louisville (94)<\/p>\n<p>Receiver: Malachi Toney, Miami (164)<\/p>\n<p>Receiver: Duce Robinson, Florida State (131)<\/p>\n<p>Receiver: Bryant Wesco Jr., Clemson (64)<\/p>\n<p>Tight end: Jeremiah Hasley, Duke (61)<\/p>\n<p>All-purpose: Malachi Toney, Miami (94)<\/p>\n<p>Tackle: PJ Williams, SMU (96)<\/p>\n<p>Tackle: McKale Boley, Virginia (77)<\/p>\n<p>Guard: Noah Josey, Virginia (71)<\/p>\n<p>Guard: Samson Okunlola, Miami (53)<\/p>\n<p>Center: Josh Bates, SMU (64)<\/p>\n<p>Defense<\/p>\n<p>End: Will Heldt, Clemson (87)<\/p>\n<p>End: Clev Lubin, Louisville (79)<\/p>\n<p>Tackle: Ahmad Moten Sr., Miami (126)<\/p>\n<p>Tackle: Kemari Copeland, Virginia Tech (89)<\/p>\n<p>Linebacker: Sammy Brown, Clemson (139)<\/p>\n<p>Linebacker: Kam Robinson, Virginia (98)<\/p>\n<p>Linebacker: Mohamed Toure, Miami (64)<\/p>\n<p>Cornerback: Ashton Hampton, Clemson (81)<\/p>\n<p>Cornerback: Chris Peal, Syracuse (45)<\/p>\n<p>Safety: Bryce Fitzgerald, Miami (86)<\/p>\n<p>Safety: KP Price, Boston College (45)<\/p>\n<p>Specialists<\/p>\n<p>Kicker: Aidan Birr, Georgia Tech (105)<\/p>\n<p>Punter: Daniel Sparks, Virginia (48)<\/p>\n<p>Returner: Malachi Toney, Miami (104)<\/p>\n<p>Preseason Player of the Year<\/p>\n<p>Darian Mensah, QB, Miami (97)<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Jennings, QB, SMU (25)<\/p>\n<p>Isaac Brown, RB, Louisville (16)<\/p>\n<p>CJ Bailey, QB, NC State (15)<\/p>\n<p>Duce Robinson, WR, FSU (12)<\/p>\n<p>Sammy Brown, LB, Clemson (11)<\/p>\n<p>Kam Robinson, LB, Virginia (5)<\/p>\n<p>Will Heldt, DE, Clemson (4)<\/p>\n<p>Mason Heintschel, QB, Pitt (3)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami, the media\u2019s landslide choice to finish atop the ACC standings this football season, is the only program&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[145681,17066,145682,116387,145683,4658,123,125,124,16682],"class_list":["post-357019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-2026-preseason-all-acc-football-team","tag-clemson","tag-darian-mensah-player-of-the-year","tag-kam-robinson","tag-kemari-copeland-hokies","tag-malachi-toney","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-uva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}