Tennessee football has two players named to the Associated Press Preseason All-American list. The AP announced the preseason list on Monday afternoon ahead of the beginning of the college football season this weekend with Week 0.
The SEC leads all conferences for All-American selections with ten. The Big Ten has eight, the ACC has four, and the Big 12 has three.
Headlining Vols players on the preseason All-American list, James Pearce Jr. is the only Vol to be named to the first-team. Pearce made the list for first-team defense as the preseason accolades continued to pile up before his highly-anticipated Junior season.
Pearce had a dominant Sophomore season, totaling 28 tackles, 14.5 for a loss, and 10.0 sacks. As a result, the hype has been building by the day to see Pearce as a Junior, with some outlets projecting Pearce to be a top draft pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Cooper Mays is the other Vol to make the preseason list, representing Tennessee's offense. He's entering his fifth season in Knoxville and is the proverbial captain of Tennessee's offensive line as he returns to hold down Center duties for the Vols.
This will be Mays' fifth season on Rocky Top, and likely his last, as he looks to play his final season and stay healthy throughout the 12-game gauntlet, the Vols will have to go through with the SEC's new schedule format adopted for the next two seasons.
Tennessee's offensive line is significantly better when Mays is running the show at Center. He's an important part of the line and offense; if the Vols want to see success on that side of the ball, Mays will have to do his best to stay healthy throughout the season.