Several Ducks Land on PFF All-American Midseason List

Pro Football Focus released their 2019 Midseason All-Americans list earlier this morning and several Ducks have made it on the list.

You can find the list here

Which Ducks are on the All-American team?

Left Tackle Penei Sewell:

• “Not only the country’s top offensive tackle, not even the country’s top offensive lineman — Sewell is currently the highest-graded player on offense regardless of position. He’s already in the PFF record books as the highest-graded true freshman tackle and he’s currently on pace to break the record for the highest-graded single season from an offensive tackle in our time of grading college football. Dominant in all facets, Sewell has allowed all of four pressures on 223 pass-blocking reps while leading the country with an astounding 93.6 run-blocking grade.”

Tight End Jacob Breeland:

• “Unfortunately, we’ve seen the last of Breeland this season after he was injured during their last outing against Colorado and will be unable to play anymore in 2019. That being said, when Breeland was on the field in 2019, he was dominant as the Ducks’ go-to guy over the middle of the field. He hauled in 26 receptions on just 32 targeted passes, seeing the national-best 158.3 passer rating on his targets. He led the country through the first half of the season with six touchdown receptions while also moving the sticks for 11 more first downs.”

Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir:

• “If you haven’t watched the Ducks secondary this season, you’ve missed out on some beyond-stellar play. Lenoir is the tip of that coverage iceberg as he’s been targeted 26 times and allowed just 11 receptions. He’s incredibly sticky in coverage against any type of receiver as he can run with the best of them and follow along with any route on the route tree. He’s made three defensive stops in the coverage game and four more against the run as he’s not afraid to take on any challenge that comes his way.”

In addition to those three Ducks, starting left guard Shane Lemieux was selected for the second team.

Who missed out from the initial Preseason List?

QB Justin Herbert

OT Calvin Throckmorton

How did the Pac-12 fare?

Oregon State receiver Isaiah Hodgins was the only other Pac-12 representative on the first team.

Second team: Brandon Aiyuk WR Arizona State, S Myles Bryant washington,

Honorable Mention: Blake Brandel OG Oregon State

Thoughts

• For Penei Sewell to land such an honor over much more hyped offensive tackles is tremendous and reflective of his dominant play.
• If not for Jevon Holland, Lenoir would be the Ducks’ best player in the secondary. He has been getting a lot of early round buzz from the draft community this year.
• The Ducks are heavily featured in PFF’s weekly All Pac-12 teams so there’s not much to fret about some Ducks missing from the All-America list.
• It’s a shame that Breeland got injured and will miss the rest of the season as he was in line to be a Mackey Award finalist and could have possibly won the trophy.
• As for the rest of the offensive All-Americans, I have no quibbles with PFF’s selections. They have chosen well. Defensively, I’d have selected Jevon Holland as a flex defender over the others.
• As good as Troy Dye has been this season, the selections at linebacker were more than worthy themselves. Watch for Dye to make it onto a Pac-12 team at least.
• Lemieux making the second team is somewhat of a surprise given that he hasn’t been his usual dominant self this season but I’ll take it.
• Herbert not making it isn’t a negative reflection on him but the quarterbacks that PFF selected have been producing more hype and gaudy numbers than he has.