2026 College Football preseason All-American lists

WR Cam Coleman, Texas

Coleman put up 93 receptions, 1,306 yards, and 13 touchdowns in two seasons at Auburn despite a limited role. Now catching passes from Arch Manning in Steve Sarkisian’s offense, he said the difference is simple: he’s “running way more routes.”

TE Trey’Dez Green, LSU

Seven touchdown receptions in only 11 games, despite a knee injury, on a 7-6 LSU team. At 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds with a Division I basketball background, he is too big for defensive backs and too fast for linebackers. Lane Kiffin’s offense, now with Sam Leavitt at quarterback, is built exactly for what he does.

Offensive Line

OT Carter Smith, Indiana

Started all 16 games on Indiana’s national championship line, won the Big Ten’s Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year award, and sat out spring practice recovering from a labral tear in his left shoulder. The injury was part of why he came back rather than enter the draft. “With my first time being like this, I have to prove I can still go out and do all the same things,” he said.

OT Cayden Green, Missouri

Switched from left guard to left tackle two weeks before the 2025 season and responded with a first-team All-SEC performance, allowing just seven pressures across 750 snaps. He could have entered the NFL Draft or generated a portal bidding war. He came back anyway.

G Evan Tengesdahl, Cincinnati

A reserve lineman his first two seasons before winning the starting job in fall camp, Tengesdahl turned in a third-team All-American season and posted the top run-blocking grade among all guards nationally. He anchored a line that allowed just eight sacks, the second-fewest in the country.

G Luke Montgomery, Ohio State

Montgomery started all 14 games at left guard, earned second-team All-Big Ten honors, and did not allow a sack during the regular season. He has been direct about the standard heading into his final year: “We want to be the Joe Moore Award winners. There’s no excuse not to be.”

C Kade Pieper, Iowa

Pieper earned first-team All-American honors at right guard in his first year as a starter, helping Iowa win the Joe Moore Award. This spring, he moved to center to replace Rimington Trophy winner Logan Jones, who departed for the NFL. Jones endorsed the transition at the combine: “He is a freak athlete.”

Defensive Line

DE Colin Simmons, Texas

Led the SEC with 12 sacks as a sophomore and is the consensus top edge rusher in college football. Steve Sarkisian said this spring that Simmons could “probably ruin every practice if I let him right now.” The self-restraint, apparently, is new. Everything else has been there since day one.

DE Dylan Stewart, South Carolina

In 24 career games, Stewart has 22.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks. He sat out all of spring practice with a back injury, but Shane Beamer said last week that he is “ahead of schedule” in his recovery. When Stewart is healthy, the conversation around him is top-five pick. The 2026 season is about proving he can stay that way.

DT David Stone, Oklahoma

As a sophomore, Stone posted 42 tackles and eight for loss while operating in a rotation on one of the country’s best defensive lines. He enters 2026 as the unquestioned alpha of that room and a projected top-10 pick. The ceiling has barely been touched.

DT William Echoles, Ole Miss

Posted 68 tackles and five sacks as a sophomore, landed at No. 48 on ESPN’s top 100 players of the 2025 season, and helped Ole Miss reach the CFP semifinals. Defensive coordinator Bryan Brown calls him the “godfather of the building.”

Linebackers

LB Sammy Brown, Clemson

Led Clemson with 106 tackles, added 13.5 tackles for loss and five sacks, and earned third-team All-American honors in 2025 on a team that went 7-6. He is the most decorated returning linebacker in college football entering 2026, and he is not satisfied. “I feel like last year was the hardest that I ever worked, and it’s not the result we wanted.”

LB Xavier Atkins, Auburn

Led the SEC with 17 tackles for loss as a sophomore, the third-highest single-season total in Auburn history and the most ever by an Auburn inside linebacker. He is the first Tiger linebacker to earn All-American honors since Karlos Dansby in 2003.

LB Rasheem Biles, Texas

Transferred from Pittsburgh, where he posted 101 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and four interceptions in 2025, two of which he returned for touchdowns. Will Muschamp made him his top defensive priority at Texas. The pursuit was reportedly so relentless that Muschamp had the wrong number for weeks before finally getting through.

Secondary

CB Leonard Moore, Notre Dame

A unanimous All-American as a sophomore, Moore held opposing quarterbacks to a 45.1 passer rating and intercepted five passes in just ten games. He is already a consensus top-five pick on early 2027 draft boards. The Miami loss in last year’s season opener still sits with him, and Notre Dame’s November rematch with the Hurricanes is circled in red.

CB Kelley Jones, Mississippi State

At 6-foot-4 with elite length, Jones led the country with 31.8 coverage snaps per reception in 2025. Mel Kiper had him as a first-round pick heading into this offseason. He came back anyway.

S KJ Bolden, Georgia

Started all 14 games as a sophomore, finished with 76 tackles, two interceptions, and seven pass defenses, and earned second-team All-SEC honors.

S Bray Hubbard, Alabama

A three-star recruit who played quarterback in high school in Mississippi, Hubbard started all 15 games as a junior, led Alabama in interceptions with four, and earned first-team All-SEC and third-team All-American honors. He was a projected top-five safety in the 2026 NFL Draft and chose to return for his senior season.

Second Team Offense

QB Arch Manning, Texas
RB Mark Fletcher, Miami
RB Isaac Brown, Louisville
WR Malachi Toney, Miami
WR Duce Robinson, Florida State
TE Jamari Johnson, Oregon
OT Trevor Goosby, Texas
OT Jordan Seaton, LSU
G Ezomo Oratokhai, Northwestern
G Laurence Seymore, Texas
C Justin Evans, Nebraska

Second Team Defense

DE John Henry Daley, Michigan
DE Teitum Tuioti, Oregon
DT A’Mauri Washington, Oregon
DT Tyrique Tucker, Indiana
LB Rolijah Hardy, Indiana
LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Notre Dame
LB Arion Carter, Tennessee
CB Brandon Finney, Oregon
CB Ellis Robinson IV, Georgia
S Marcus Ratcliffe, Texas A&M
S Amare Ferrell, Indiana

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