Phil Steele released his 2026 Preseason All-America and All-ACC teams this week, and Clemson placed two names on the national list and nine on the conference squad. The volume is there. So is the distribution: three offensive players, six defensive. This is a roster built from the back forward, and the preseason honors reflect it.
Sammy Brown is the headliner. The junior linebacker landed on Steele’s second-team All-America list and first-team All-ACC, which should surprise nobody who watched Clemson’s defense last season. Brown posted 194 tackles in 2025 per coaches film review, earned first-team All-ACC from the league, the Associated Press, and Steele himself, and added third-team All-America honors. He was the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2024. He’s one of 14 players nationally to post double-digit tackles for loss and five or more sacks in each of the past two seasons. The All-America nod is the floor, not the ceiling.
Brayden Jacobs represents the other side of the equation. Steele put him on the fourth-team All-America list and second-team All-ACC. The 6-foot-6, 315-pound redshirt junior played 368 offensive snaps across 10 games with four starts in 2025. His inclusion is projection more than production.
But the projection matters. Steele runs four-deep on his All-America team, and Jacobs landing on the fourth team means he sees a top-16 offensive lineman in the country. Clemson needs him to become that.
The All-ACC list fills out the rest of the picture. Cornerback Ashton Hampton joined Brown on the first team after putting together 77 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss in 2025 according to coaches film review. He’s been a starter since his freshman year and enters 2026 as the best cover corner in the conference. Wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. also grabbed first-team honors in the slot, a nod to the game-breaking ability he’s shown since arriving on campus as a five-star recruit.
Jerome Carter III and Will Heldt landed on the second team. Carter finished the 2025 season tied for second in the FBS in interceptions while starting 12 of 13 games at safety and collecting 75 tackles. He’s the kind of ball-hawking presence that allows the front seven to take chances. Heldt has posted 10 or more tackles for loss and five or more sacks in back-to-back seasons, a feat matched nationally by only 14 players — including his teammate Brown.
T.J. Moore earned a second-team nod at wide receiver opposite Wesco, giving Clemson two wideouts recognized in the top tier of ACC pass-catchers. On the offensive line, Collin Sadler started nine games and logged 608 snaps across multiple positions last season, earning a fourth-team selection. Amare Adams, the sophomore defensive lineman who recorded 10 tackles in 107 snaps over 10 games as a freshman, rounds out the list on the third team.
Nine names. Six from the defense. Three from the offense. That ratio tells you exactly where this Clemson team is strongest entering 2026.
But preseason honors are predictions dressed up as awards. They count in June. They disappear in September. For Clemson to have the season a schedule this loaded requires, Brown has to be more than Steele’s second-team All-American. He has to be the best linebacker in the country. Hampton has to erase the opponent’s top receiver every Saturday. Carter has to generate turnovers. Heldt has to keep posting those TFL and sack totals against better competition.
On offense, the formula is simpler and harder. Wesco and Moore are the most talented receiver duo in the ACC on paper. They have to produce like it. The offensive line, with Jacobs and Sadler both recognized, has to give whoever wins the quarterback job enough time to find them.
Phil Steele’s list says Clemson has nine of the best players in the ACC and two of the best in the country. The game film will say whether he was right. Clemson opens the 2026 season at LSU on September 5.
