An additional seven members of the Orange received honorable mention consideration.
The ACC on Tuesday unveiled the finalize All-ACC football teams for the 2024 season, and there was certainly many of this year’s Syracuse Orange represented.
In total, five players were named to an All-ACC team, four of whom received at least second-team honors — Oronde Gadsden II, Kyle McCord, Trebor Pena, Jackson Meeks and Clarence Lewis. An additional seven players from this year’s team earned honorable mention consideration.
All-ACC teams were selected by a voting panel which included 54 media members and the conference’s 17 head coaches, according to the conference.
Let’s break down the ballot to see which Syracuse players earned an All-ACC nod and who might’ve been snubbed from this year’s honor:
First-Team All-ACC
Gadsden was the only Syracuse player to clinch a spot on the All-ACC first team. He finished the 2024 season with a career-high 69 catches, 860 receiving yards, 12.5 yards per catch and five touchdowns. Considering he missed all of the 2023 season, Gadsden returning to All-ACC form proved to be a big part of Syracuse’s offense succeeding as well as it did in 2024.
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Gadsden also finished first among ACC tight ends and fifth among all receivers in the conference in receptions and receiving yards. This is Gadsden’s second All-ACC first team nod with the Orange.
Second-Team All-ACC
The trio who helped to power Syracuse’s passing attack also earned high consideration in the All-ACC honors. McCord, Pena and Meeks all finished with second team nods.
Starting off with the transfer quarterback, McCord was essentially picked as the second-best ACC QB, only trailing Miami’s Cam Ward in the voting. He finished with career-highs in completions (367), passing attempts (558), passing yards (4,326) and touchdowns (29). Outside of passing touchdowns (Ward was first in that category), McCord finished first in the conference in all those other stats. Notably, McCord also led the country in passing yards, finished with 200+ more yards than second place (Ward).
Syracuse’s top-two receivers also earned All-ACC second team honors. Pena and Meeks each finished top-five in the ACC in catches (first and second), receiving yards (fourth and third) and touchdowns (both tied for fifth-most). Like Gadsden, a return from injury evolved into a stellar year for Pena. He finished with 79 catches for 871 yards and seven TDs, while Meeks had 73 catches for 911 yards and seven TDs.
Second-Team All-ACC Defense
Clarence Lewis was the only Syracuse player on the defensive side to crack either first- or second-team All-ACC.
Lewis transferred from Notre Dame and immediately turned into Syracuse’s best passing coverage defensive back, at least on paper. He finished second in the ACC in broken up passes (11), only trailing Louisville’s Quincey Riley (for context, Jayden Bellamy had the second-most for the Orange with six).
This is Lewis’ first All-ACC nod.
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All-ACC Honorable Mentions
Syracuse did have a handful of players who just missed the cut for an All-ACC nod. The full list is as follows:
- RB: LeQuint Allen
- AP: LeQuint Allen
- OT: Savion Washington
- OG: Jakob Bradford
- DE: Fadil Diggs
- LB: Justin Barron
- LB: Marlowe Wax
- P: Jack Stonehouse
The three notable players who have a case that they could’ve sneaked there way into an All-ACC team would likely be Allen, Barron and Stonehouse.
Allen did finish tied for third in the ACC in touchdowns, but despite being fourth in rushing attempts, had 901 rushing yards (seventh) and 75.1 rushing yards per game (eighth). He was the next running back left on the board. If there was an argument to be had, Allen was also one spot away from cracking the second team as an offensive all-purpose player.
Stonehouse finished with 32 punts for an average of 45.9 yards per kick, 11 of which went inside the 20-yard line. Despite Syracuse’s initial issues in 2024 with kicking, that yards per kick average would rank second in the ACC.
Barron was another tough cut, although it would’ve been more of an uphill climb. He finished 12th in solo tackles and 10th in assisted tackles in the conference (both first for the Orange).
The ACC will announce individual conference awards (Player of the Year, Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year) tomorrow. The conference will also announce the Coach of the Year award on Thursday.
Now it’s your turn: what are your thoughts on this year’s All-ACC ballot? Who from the Orange was snubbed the most?