Preseason All-America honors begin to stack up for Oregon stars

Two more popular sports publications — Sporting News and The Athletic — released their preseason college football All-American teams on Wednesday, and a number of Oregon players were recognized.

On Sporting News’ list, senior offensive tackle Ajani Cornelius and senior wide receiver Tez Johnson were honored as first-team selections, while Washington transfer cornerback Jabbar Muhammad was listed as a second-teamer.

The only corners listed ahead of Muhammad were Michigan’s Will Johnson and Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison.

Meanwhile, The Athletic’s list featured Cornelius on its second-team and quarterback Dillon Gabriel on its first-team.

“Gabriel has already posted four 3,000-yard seasons at two schools — UCF and Oklahoma — and he’s using an extra year of pandemic eligibility to transfer to Oregon and try to win a national title,” The Athletic wrote on Gabriel. “ Bo Nix unlocked his potential with the Ducks as a transfer from Auburn, and Gabriel will try to make a leap to Heisman Trophy candidate as well. He’s thrown for 14,865 yards in his career, four times finishing in the top 25 in the FBS in passing efficiency. In Eugene, he has his most talented supporting cast yet.”

The only offensive tackles to best Cornelius were LSU’s Will Campbell and Texas’ Kelvin Banks.

These Ducks’ All-America nods were the latest development in a wave of excitement surrounding the upcoming season for Oregon fans.

Also unveiled in the last month was the Ducks’ new “That Team Out West” preseason documentary series, the preseason AP poll, two new uniform combinations and a host of preseason award watch lists.

In other words, the build-up to the 2024 season contains no shortage of content for Oregon fans.