Two Clemson stars were honored as preseason All-Americans by this national outlet.
Athlon Sports released its 2026 preseason All-America teams, and two Tigers made the squads — junior linebacker Sammy Brown and junior wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr.
Brown earned a spot on the third-team defense, while Wesco made the fourth-team offense.
Brown continued to be a force on Clemson’s defense as a sophomore last season, when he racked up a team-high 106 tackles — tied for second most in the ACC — while posting 13.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, seven pass breakups, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception. He was a third-team All-America selection by Phil Steele, as well as a first-team All-ACC honoree by the conference, the AP and Steele.
A high school Butkus Award winner, Brown earned freshman All-America honors in his debut season in 2024 while also being named the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year.
The 6-foot-2, 235-pounder enters the 2026 season credited with 194 tackles (25 for loss), 10 sacks, 11 pass breakups, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery over 27 games (19 starts) in his first two seasons. He is one of only 14 players nationally to post 10-plus tackles for loss and five or more sacks in each of the last two seasons, alongside fellow Clemson defender Will Heldt.
As for Wesco, he was on track for an all-conference-caliber season through six games as a sophomore last season before sustaining a scary, season-ending injury in the seventh game of the year. The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder caught 31 passes for 537 yards with a team-high six receiving touchdowns.
In last October’s game against SMU, Wesco suffered a back injury during a third-quarter punt return, in which he was flipped up in the air by an SMU defender and landed on his head. Though he got up and walked off the field, Wesco eventually left the game and was transported to a nearby hospital. It was very serious, and though he was allowed to go home the next day, his season was over.
Luckily for Wesco, there were no fractures, and he recently shared the positive news that he has been medically cleared and is ready to play for the 2026 season.
Despite missing half of his sophomore season due to the injury, Wesco became the first Clemson player to record at least 500 receiving yards and at least five touchdown catches in each of his freshman and sophomore seasons since Justyn Ross from 2018-19. Last season, Wesco also became the fourth player in Clemson history to record 1,000 receiving yards in the first 15 games of a career, alongside Sammy Watkins, Artavis Scott and Justyn Ross.
Wesco, who was a freshman All-American in 2024, enters the upcoming season having recorded 72 receptions for 1,245 yards and 11 touchdowns over 19 career games, including 18 starts.
Wesco, Brown and the ACC’s Tigers will open the 2026 season against the SEC’s LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., on Sept. 5 (7:30 p.m., ABC).
Athlon’s preseason All-America teams feature 13 players from the ACC, while the SEC has the most selections with 48. Oregon has the most selections of any school with 11, followed by Georgia and Indiana with eight apiece.
