AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE 2020 ALL-LEAGUE SELECTIONS

 

 

 

The end of the college football season is a sad time, because it means that we are almost finished withfootball, and have a long cold winter (and spring) ahead of us.

But it's also a time for passing out hardware, in the form of all-league teams. 

Plenty of players had the spotlight shining on them, so it was admittedly tricky trying to find the best of the best in each league. But through careful research, and all night film sessions, our committee of three came up with what we thought were the best choices in each conference. 

These selections may not match the ones unveiled by the conferences, but that's because much of that is name recognition more than stellar play. Digging deep behind the numbers is what's needed, and that's precisely what we have done here. 

We lead off with the American Athletic Conference, the league most people feel is the closest to a Power 5 conference. The choice for offensive player of the year was especially tough, and in the end we selected the guy from the better team -- Cincinnati's Desmond Ridder winning narrowly over UCF's Marlon Williams. On defense there was no conundrum -- Zaven Collins was the man. SMU's superb runner Ulysses Bentley IV was the easy choice for freshman of the year, and while coach of the year wasn't a slam dunk, Tulsa's Philip Montgomery was the choice. A year after going 3-9, Montgomery led the Golden Hurricane to the league championship game.

1^ST TEAM OFFENSE                                                                              2^ND TEAM OFFENSE

QB Desmond Ridder/Cincinnati                                                       QB Dillon Gabriel/UCF

RB Ulysses Bentley IV/SMU                                                              RB Gerrid Doaks/Cincinnati

RB Cameron Carroll/Tulane                                                              RB Greg McCrae/UCF

WR Marlon Williams/UCF                                                                   WR Jaylon Robinson/UCF

WR Calvin Austin III/Memphis                                                          WR CJ Johnson/East Carolina

WR Duece Watts/Tulane                                                                     WR Keylon Stokes/Tulsa

TE Sean Dykes/Memphis                                                                  TE Kylen Granson/SMU

OT James Hudson/Cincinnati                                                           OT Darius Harper/Cincinnati

OT Jaylon Thomas/SMU                                                                     OT Tyler Smith/Tulsa

OG Cole Schneider/UCF                                                                    OG Cory Dublin/Tulane

OG Peter Nestrowitz/Navy                                                                OG Braylon Jones/Houston

 C Matthew Lee/UCF                                                                            C Sincere Haynesworth/Tulane                            

1^ST TEAM DEFENSE                                                                               2^ND TEAM DEFENSE

DE Cameron Sample/Tulane                                                             DE Payton Turner/Houston

DT Morris Joseph/Memphis                                                            DT Kenny Turnier/UCF

DT Jaxon Player/Tulsa                                                                        DT Elijah Chatman/SMU

DE Myjai Sanders/Cincinnati                                                             DE Elijah Ponder/Cincinnati

LB Zaven Collins/Tulsa                                                                      LB Dorian Williams/Tulane

LB Patrick Johnson/Tulane                                                               LB Delano Robinson/SMU

LB Diego Fagot/Navy                                                                          LB Jarell White/Cincinnati

LB Xavier Smith/East Carolina                                                          LB Grant Stuard/Houston

CB Ahmad Gardner/Cincinnati                                                         CB Coby Bryant/Cincinnati

CB Marcus Jones/Houston                                                               CB Ja’Quan McMIllan/East Carolina

 S James Wiggins/Cincinnati                                                             S Kendarin Ray/Tulsa

 S Richie Grant/UCF                                                                             S Quindell Johnson/Memphis

1^ST TEAM SPECIALISTS                                                                      2^ND TEAM SPECIALISTS

 K Riley Patterson/Memphis                                                             K Chris Naggar/SMU

 P Laine Wilkins/Houston                                                                    P James Smith/Cincinnati

RS Tyler Snead/East Carolina                                                            RS Marcus Jones/Houston

 

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Desmond Ridder/Cincinnati              

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Zaven Collins/Tulsa                           

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Ulysses Bentley IV/SMU

COACH OF THE YEAR: Philip Montgomery/Tulsa