Two from Ole Miss named to AP All-America team
Published 4:29 pm Tuesday, August 21, 2018
OXFORD — Two Ole Miss football players added to their growing lists of accolades on Tuesday.
Junior wide receiver A.J. Brown and junior offensive tackle Greg Little both were named to the Associated Press Preseason All-America team.
Brown, who is on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award and Biletnikoff Award, earned first team honors, while Little was named to the second team.
Mississippi State defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, meanwhile, was a second-team pick. The junior was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection in 2017, when he had five sacks and 12 tackles for loss.
Brown, a preseason first team All-American by most major publications, finished the 2017 season as the Ole Miss single-season record-holder in receiving yards (1,252) and tied for the top spot in receiving touchdowns (11). He was tops in the SEC and ranked sixth nationally in receiving yards per game (104.3).
His six 100-yard receiving games tied the Ole Miss single-season record, previously set by Laquon Treadwell in 2015.
Little, a junior from Allen, Texas, has appeared in every game at left tackle since arriving in Oxford two years ago. Little already had earned preseason All-America first team honors from the Sporting News and second team accolades from Lindy’s, Athlon and Phil Steele.
Throughout the 2017 season, Little helped protect the Ole Miss quarterbacks that led the SEC and ranked 11th nationally in passing (328.4 ypg). He is also on multiple watch lists, including the the Outland Trophy for the best interior lineman in college football.
Clemson and Wisconsin led the way with three players on the first team. Alabama and Wisconsin each had a total of five players on the first and second teams combined.
Alabama offensive tackle Jonah Williams and center Ross Pierschbacher made the first team. Running back Damien Harris, defensive end Raekwon Davis and linebacker Mack Wilson are second teamers.
LSU also had two players on the first team, junior linebacker Devin White and sophomore cornerback Greedy Williams.
Last year, White and Williams became the first set of players from the same team to lead the SEC in tackles and interceptions in the same year since 1993.
White led the SEC with 10.2 tackles per game. Williams, as a redshirt freshman, topped the conference with six interceptions.
Other SEC players on the All-America team were Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship and defensive back Deandre Baker, and South Carolina wide receiver Deebo Samuel.