Eight Versatile ACC Standouts Named to 2025 Paul Hornung Award Watch List

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Eight dynamic playmakers from the Atlantic Coast Conference have been named to the 2025 Paul Hornung Award Preseason Watch List offered by Texas Roadhouse, as introduced Thursday by the Louisville Sports Commission. The award honors faculty soccer’s most versatile participant.
 
The ACC’s eight alternatives of the 46 gamers on the preseason watch checklist are tied for essentially the most of any convention, together with the Big Ten and the Big 12.
 
Now in its sixteenth season, the Paul Hornung Award is given yearly to essentially the most versatile participant in main faculty soccer by the Louisville Sports Commission in reminiscence of the late soccer legend and Louisville native Paul Hornung. The winner and his household might be honored on the annual Paul Hornung Award dinner in March 2026 on the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, Ky.
 
ACC Players Named to the 2025 Paul Hornung Award Preseason Watch List
Name, School, Position
Jacob De Jesus, California, Wide Receiver
Antonio Williams, Clemson, Wide Receiver
Peyton Jones, Duke, Running Back
Isaac Brown, Louisville, Running Back
Keelon Marion, Miami, Wide Receiver
Hollywood Smothers, NC State, Running Back
Kenny Johnson, Pitt, Wide Receiver
Demond Claiborne, Wake Forest, Running Back
 
Hornung, who handed away in November 2020 at age 84, was one of the vital versatile gamers in soccer historical past. During his standout profession at Notre Dame within the Fifties, he performed each place within the offensive backfield, in addition to defensive security, punter, placekicker, and kickoff returner. A 1956 All-American quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner, Hornung was the primary total choose within the NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. In 1961, he earned NFL MVP honors after setting a single-season scoring file that stood for 46 years. He’s enshrined in each the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, and legendary coach Vince Lombardi as soon as referred to as him “the most versatile man ever to play the game.”
 
The 2025 watch checklist was chosen by a panel of faculty soccer consultants, utilizing a mixture of statistics, previous efficiency, SID enter, and projections for the upcoming season. Throughout the autumn, the Paul Hornung Award Weekly Honor Roll will highlight gamers whose on-field versatility embodies the award’s spirit. Both watch checklist members and weekly honorees are eligible to win.
 
The Paul Hornung Award is a part of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which incorporates 25 of the game’s most prestigious honors. Since 1935, NCFAA awards have acknowledged over 950 of faculty soccer’s greatest. Learn extra at NCFAA.org.