16 Tigers earn PFF All-ACC honors

Trevor Lawrence leads four first-team honorees on offense.

by TigerNet Staff - Mon Dec 02 20:35:48 GMT-04:00 2019

A total of 16 Tigers, including six first-teamers, made Pro Football Focus' All-ACC honorees on Monday.

Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Tee Higgins and Jackson Carman picked up first-team honors on the offensive side.

"After a forgettable quarter against Louisville, Lawrence has been the highest-graded quarterback in all of college football, not just the ACC," PFF's Cam Mellor writes. "Thanks in part to that incredible stretch of play, he now ranks fifth in overall grade among the nation's quarterbacks, in a dramatic turnaround after the opening three games of his season. He rattled off five elite game grades, completed 67.8% of his passes for 30 touchdowns and hasn't thrown an interception since Louisville.

"His numbers and accuracy metrics look a lot better when you see he had 11 passes dropped, intentionally threw away eight balls, had two spiked passes and launched one as he was hit, finishing with an adjusted completion percentage of 75.2% that topped the conference in 2019."

Also on offense, Gage Cervenka (second), Sean Pollard (second), Jordan McFadden (second), John Simpson (third), Justyn Ross (third) and Tremayne Anchrum (third) made All-ACC.

Isaiah Simmons and Tanner Muse earned the first-team nod on the defensive side.

"Simmons flies all over the field for the Tigers and flies all over the field incredibly efficiently," said Mellor, "finishing the season with just five missed tackles on his 60 tackle attempts. As a blitzer, he recorded 23 total pressures on just 47 pass-rushes, including seven sacks, two QB hits and 14 more hurries. Even with two touchdowns allowed in his coverage, he made multiple plays on the ball, limited receivers to just 38 yards after the catch and didn't allow a reception longer than 30 yards all season long. He finishes the regular season with the ACC's best tackling grade, second-best run-defense grade and second-highest pass-rush grade among linebackers."

Also on defense, A.J. Terrell (second), K'Von Wallace (second), Tyler Davis (third) and James Skalski (honorable mention) also made All-ACC.