Four Trojans land on the PFF Preseason All-American Team
With the start of the 2022 college football season right around the corner, Pro Football Focus has released its preseason All-America teams.
USC landed four players on the top two teams—all of them on the offensive side of the ball—with a pair of selections to the First Team. Wideout Jordan Addison was joined by offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees on the first-team offense. Quarterback Caleb Williams and wideout Mario Williams found themselves on the second-team offense. USC’s four selections were the most in the Pac-12 and tied for the fourth-most of any team in the country. (It’s not hard to guess who the top three teams were.)
Addison is the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner as the sport’s best wideout. He transferred to USC this offseason from Pitt, giving the Trojans and Caleb Williams another receiving threat to go to in a room full of them.
We’ve been pounding the drum for Vorhees—and, by extension, the rest of the USC offensive line—all offseason. PFF loves his game. Among linemen who played at least 250 snaps as a blocker last season, only nine had a better grade than the Trojan stalwart. He was also the only qualified lineman in America to earn a 90 grade from PFF as both a pass blocker and a run blocker.
And USC is counting on him to protect its prized offseason acquisition this upcoming season, Caleb Williams. The former Sooner star followed Lincoln Riley from Norman to Los Angeles and enters the new year as one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy. USC has the fifth-best odds in the country to win the national title this season in large part because of the play many expect it to get at quarterback.
And, of course, Mario Williams figures to be a key part of the passing game as well. Another Oklahoma import, Mario Williams caught 35 balls for 380 yards and four touchdowns last season as a true freshman playing with Caleb Williams.
Other Pac-12 players on the preseason All-America teams: Edefuan Ulofoshio (Washington, first-team defense), Noah Sewell (Oregon, first-team defense), Clark Phillips III (Utah, first-team defense), TJ Bass (Oregon, third-team offense), Zion Tupuola-Fetui (Washington, third-team defense), Jacob Cowing (Arizona, honorable mention), Brant Kuithe (Utah, honorable mention), and Brandon Dorlus (Oregon, honorable mention).