The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Joel Klatt’s Preseason All-Americans for the 2026 Season

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

Fox Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt names his Preseason All-Americans for the upcoming season as he debates between the best players in the sport to make his selections. He discusses who gets the nod as his 1st-Team Quarterback between players like Oregon’s Dante Moore, Texas’ Arch Manning, Notre Dame’s C.J. Carr, Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and more. Klatt goes position by position as he makes his picks of the best of the best in the sport with players like Jeremiah Smith and Texas’ Colin Simmons vying for spots. Alabama, Georgia and LSU all land players on the team as the SEC looks to combat the Big Ten for supremacy in the sport this season.Use my code for 10% off your next set of CFB tickets at SeatGeek*:https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/KLATT10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Chapters 🏈0:00-1:29 Joel Klatt’s preseason All-American Team1:30-3:19 Quarterback3:20-4:45 Running Backs4:46-7:33 Wide Receivers7:34-8:44 Tight End8:45-10:02 Offensive Tackles10:03-11:06 Guards11:07-11:32 Center11:33-12:19 All-Purpose12:20-12:52 All-American first team offense recap12:53-14:14 Edges14:15-15:37 Defensive Tackles15:38-16:46 Linebackers16:47-18:05 Safeties18:06-20:55 Cornerbacks20:55-21:46 All-American first team defense recap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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What a crop of quarterbacks we have in college football. This was the hardest one. I tell you, Georgia and Alabama are loaded. He's my sixth Oregon duck on a first or second team so far throughout this All-American list. That's the best roster in the sport. Six of these guys. He was number one of my top ten players this year. He was number one of my top ten players a year ago.

This guy is outstanding. Welcome back into the program. It's the Joel Clatt show. I'm Joel Clatt. This show is brought to you by graduate by Hilton. We thank them for their support, and I cannot wait for this episode. We have got my preseason All-American team. I've never done this before in the history of this show.

So this is the first time I've ever done a preseason all-American team, any all-American team of any sort. And I cannot wait for it here as we get set for the 2026 college football season. Hey, real quick, Wednesday, the episode that will come out in a couple of days, really fun episode. I sat down with Brady Quinn from Notre Dame, Robert Kerr from the 3rd from Baylor, and we had a great roundtable about quarterback play in general and specific to this season. There's an incredible story that Texas fans won't want to hear that Robert Griffin told. So that's coming out on Wednesday.

Make sure to check that out. Hit subscribe and you'll get that episode right when it drops. But right now, my All-American team for 2026, the preseason starts. Well, not even starts. The preseason is amongst us. It's preseason camp and college ball. But here we go. I start with quarterbacks.

What a crop of quarterbacks we have in college football. This was the hardest one. You know how I feel about C.J. Carr? You guys know that it's going to be C.J. Carr because I had him as my top quarterback and my top 10 players list. Dante Moore is going to be the second team guy. But listen, I had to decide between guys like Arch Manning, Trinidad Chambliss, Dante Moore, Julian Sayan, C.J. Carr, like any one of these guys could easily be your preseason All-American. But I went with Carr.

He got his first season starting under his belt. he's had a great offseason by all accounts. Some throw a couple of times. He looks great. Mike Denbrock, their offensive coordinator, I think they're going to throw it a little bit more this year without the Judarian Price love running back duo that they had a year ago. I think this offense could score 45 points or more.

I really do. Lots of good weapons around him. Jaden Greathouse is back. Jordan Faison. Quincy Porter transfers in. Myelin Graham. Both of those guys from Ohio. state and behind a great offensive line. They're going to have an incredible defense and not a great

schedule. So I like Carr as my first team guy. Dante Moore is my second team quarterback. I think Moore is outstanding. And this is going to be a pattern as you see. Moore is my second teamer from Oregon. And you're going to start to realize why I have Oregon as my number one team in the country in the preseason because there are Oregon players littered in consideration in the second team and the first team here on my preseason All-American list. There are so many ducks. And again, it just goes to the expectation that we have for them, the roster that they have. And now more comes in. He's got 20 starts under his belt and a lot of talent around him in Eugene. All right. Let's move on to the running backs. I'm taking two running backs here. Lots of great

options at running back as well. Amad Hardy is out there. Caleb Hawkins. He led F. FBS and rushing TDs is a true freshman in North Texas. Now he transfers and he's at Oklahoma State. Jaden Baat, Florida. He's a sensational player. Justice Haynes, remember how good he was at Michigan last year. Now he's going to transfer down to Georgia Tech. Isaac Brown at Louisville, nearly nine yards per carry last year.

But the guys that I settled on ultimately were guys that are just tried and true and I just trust them a lot. I'm going to go with two, Kiwan, Lacey, and L.J. Martin. Key one, Lacey from Ole Miss and LJ. Martin at B. you, my second team guys are going to be Isaac Brown and Jaden Bob. But for Lacey, he's All-American a year ago, finished with over 1,500 yards. This guy is absolutely electric and he still has his running back mate in the backfield, at least, with Trinidad Chambliss, the quarterback at Ole Miss. He had 24 rushing touchdowns.

He was a monster in their semi-final run a year ago. And then LJ. Martin, he comes in. What a great get for BYU to keep him out of the draft, bring him back to Provo. and now he's the reigning Big 12 offensive player of the year that is back in their lineup. So he's going to be the engine that powers the BYU offense,

even maybe more so than Bear Brockmire, although I do like Bachmire quite a bit. That's also going to help L.J. Martin. So those two guys are my all-American running backs. A wide receiver, truth be told, this was the easiest position.

I could have gone to three, but there was just too clean of a break after the top two. I think we can say it in unison, Jeremiah Smith, and Malachi, Tony. These are my guys. My second team guys, there was a bunch of people that I considered, but I went with Cam Coleman and Charlie Becker at Indiana. But the top two guys have got to be Smith and Tony. There's not been a better player in college football over the last two years than Jeremiah Smith. He was number one of my top 10 players. This year, he was number one of my top 10 players a year ago. This guy is outstanding, 29 total touchdowns and 29 career games at Ohio State.

He's 6.3 and a half. He's 225 pounds. And if you've read Bruce Feldman's freaks list out of the athletic, you'll know that he's got the fastest start, the first 10 yards of anybody in the Ohio State program. That is strikingly alarming if you're a defensive back out there. So he's explosive, he's big, he's physical, he does it all, he's got great hands, Jeremiah Smith, obviously in there. Malachi Tony, he didn't turn 18 until the season last year, and he led the country in catches. He's lightning in a bottle. Absolutely love Malachi Tony. Just get him the ball wherever he is on the field, very similar to Jeremiah Smith. And then my second team guys, I think Cam Coleman's going to have a huge year. He's got Archmanning throwing the ball at Texas. He's very talented. He did not have a, let's say, I mean, let's

face it, Auburn, there was a lot of turmoil at Auburn. And it should be better at Texas for Cam Coleman. I think he is ridiculously talented. He showed unreal flashes. And then Charlie Becker, let's not forget that Charlie Becker, in the back half of the year and in Crunch Time and championship games on the road against Penn State throughout the playoff in the national championship, Charlie Becker was maybe the best wide receiver on the field. This guy was outstanding. I saw his breakout game live. Elijah Serrat was down.

He was not playing for Indiana, and Becker comes in and goes seven for 118 against Penn State. From that game through the end of the season, he was third in the country and receiving yards. He went six for 126 against Ohio State in that great secondary. He had a TD versus Alabama and Oregon, huge catches in the Miami game. He's great on third down, and he's going to have Nick Marsh opposite him. I thought about Nick Martian here at second team. I thought about even Ryan Coleman Williams. I can't get Coleman Williams freshman year out of my mind.

I know it was disappointing a year. ago, something tells me that he's going to bounce back and Alabama's going to need him to bounce back. Really need him to get back to that freshman season form. Thought about him in there as well. To when you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get. Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you. SAP Grow is built with AI embedded at its core, working across every system. And it's ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with SAP Grow AI Cloud ERP for any size business

Finish out this skill set of the offense We go tight end A couple of guys Really three guys I was trying to decide between Tradeaz Green from LSU Jamari Johnson at Oregon and Terrence Carter at Texas Tech I went with Trade As Green at LSU I love his length

And this might be a tip of the cap to what I think this offense can be With Sam Levitt at the helm and Lincoln or excuse me, Lane Kiffin calling plays. He led the SEC last year as far as tight ends go with seven touchdowns. And now he's going to be in what I would consider to be a much better offense. That offense was not good for LSU a year ago and he still performed and produced. So I gave him the nod.

I think it would have been very easy to go Jamari Johnson. He's going to be my second team tied end at Oregon. He shared the field with Kenyon Sadeeke, and yet he was still productive. Now he's going to emerge as really their go-to option at tight-in. But there's a lot of weapons. and mouths to feed for Oregon. So those are the two guys I landed on. Terrence Carter just on the outside,

returning tight-in. He has more catches over the last two years than anybody at the tied-in position in college football. So Tread-Az Green and Jammari Johnson in there at Tide-in. Let's go to the offensive line. Oh, yeah, let's get to the nitty-gritty. Let's do it. At tackle.

Tackle for me, considered a lot of guys. I boiled it down to these four. my first teamers are going to be Carter Smith at Indiana and Jordan Seton at LSU. Carter Smith turned down what I thought was very good draft stock to come back to Indiana. He's going to anchor what I consider to be one of the better offensive lines in college football. And that is a run game that could do some damage. They brought in Turbo Richard as an incoming transfer at the running back position. They could be dangerous.

He was the Big Ten offensive linemen of the year last season. He is back. And then Jordan Seton, he comes in. He made my top 10 players in the country. I really like Jordan Seton and have for a long time. He was on Colorado's team, obviously the first couple of years of his career. Now he transfers to LSU and I think he's going to really emerge. And then my second team guys from Texas, Trevor Goosby and Jacarius Peak from South Carolina.

Peak is a transfer from North Carolina State. Huge gift for Shane Beamer. And then Goosby going into his fourth season at Texas, he's got 30 games started. First team all SEC a year ago. Those are my four offensive tackles. Carter Smith, Jordan Seton, Gusebee, and Peek. We move inside. These are guys that not many people have heard of here.

Let's go. Let's go. Preseason All-American team offensive guard. I'm going to go with Gregory Johnson at Minnesota and Cade Piper of Iowa. Both of these guys really good players. Johnson going into his third season as a starter. He's played at center and at guard. He was a left guard last year.

And if you talk with NFL scouts, they are very excited about Gregory Johnson as an interior offensive lineman. Cade Piper was part of that Joe Moore Award winning offensive line for Iowa a year ago. Now he is back. He was a mainstay in there. And listen, I feel like an All-American team is incomplete on the offensive line without an Iowa offensive linemen. So there you go.

Now, the two behind them on the second team are going to be Caden Green, Missouri, and Austin Zarevold at Ohio State. Green was forced to play tackle last year due to injury, but he should be back at guard this year. Sarah Veld, same thing, was out at tackle, should be back at guard, which is more of a natural position. So I slotted them on the second team in there at guard. And that leaves us with the All-American Center. And we go with Oregon's Poncho Lala Olu. He's going to be fantastic.

He was All-American last season and a Remington finalist. He's back. And then little-known Brady Small at Army is going to be my second team center, two-time All-Conference Center, going into his fourth season as the starter there for Army. So that's where I'm going there. And then I've got to have an all-purpose guy out there as well. All-purpose. You know that I'm bullish on UCLA.

So they brought in a new coach. Bob Chesney brought over a lot of players from JMU. We've seen that before, right? We've seen this song and dance before. Wayne Knight from UCLA, led the country in all-purpose yards a year ago at JMU with over 2,000. He does it all. 1,300 rush yards.

He had over 400 receiving yards. He returns punts. So he's the guy I'm going to go with as my first team preseason All-American All-Purpose. And then watch out for Ryan Nibblett at Texas. Great returner. Two monster punt return touchdowns last year. He sent the game into overtime with a touchdown against Mississippi State. He sealed the game against OU and Red River.

So watch out for Ryan Niblet. All right. So let's recap this offense. And it's a good one. Trust me. You got power up front. You've got talent on the outside, in particular, those wide receivers. Here is what it looks like.

Of course, at quarterback, it was C.J. Carr. Behind him in the backfield, L.J. Martin and Q.1. Lacey. Outside, Jeremiah Smith and Malachi, Tony, Trades Green, the tied end. And then up front, we've got Jordan Seton, Cade, Piper, Gregory Johnson, Carter Smith, and in the middle, poncho from Oregon. That's right. And all purpose, it's Wayne Knight over at UCLA. All right, we move to the defensive. side now. Again, this is the preseason

All-American team, first time ever that we've ever done an All-American team, and here we are. Defense, we start on the edge. Easy. Colin Simmons, Dylan Stewart. Simmons, probably the best pass rusher in the country, has been for the better part of the last couple of years.

He's turning into a more complete player year over a year, really good on normal downs, led the SEC with 12 sacks a year ago, has 21 over his first two seasons in college football. This is a guy that is an elite pass rusher. He's clearly on there. He was the national freshman of the year in 24. First team all at SEC last year. And then Dylan Stewart, Stewart, 6-5-245. Stewart is going into his junior year at South Carolina, was a freshman All-American in 2024.

He's outstanding. There's no doubt. And then my second team guys are going to be Damon Wilson at Miami. All SEC a year ago at Missouri. Now he joins a super talented group in Miami. and one of those guys that they're going to be hoping can replace Ruben Bain, Akeem Mezzador, with pressure on the defensive line. And then watch out for the transfer from Utah. Also my second team edge player, John Henry Daly at Michigan. He was an All-American a year ago at Utah, 11 and a half sacks, 17 and a half tackles for loss in just 12 games. So watch out for John Henry Daly.

We move to the interior now. First team defensive tackle. David Stone at Oklahoma and Amari Washington at Oregon. There are those ducks again. Stone, former five-star recruit, he was absolutely sensational last year, ready to take the SEC by Storm eight tackles for loss a year ago, now going into his junior year. Oregon's going to have the best defensive line in the country.

Part of that is their anchor in the middle of Mari Washington. He's phenomenal. They're going to have guys like Mateo Uiungaleli, Tadem Tuiote, Bear Alexander. loaded on the defensive line. Washington is a monster. He's 6-3, 330 pounds in the middle. And then you look at some of the guys that I was considering as the second team, All-Americans, A.J. Holmes at Texas Tech. With all the talent that the Tech defense and defensive line lost from a year ago,

Holmes quietly was a second team All-American, and he's back. Tyreek Tucker from Indiana, he's back. They're both going to be my second team defensive tackle arm, All-American. He was an AP All-American from a year ago. Tucker was. An experienced guy now with 21 starts. I love how Bryant Haynes manipulates the defense, allows the front to move. Tucker is able to get a lot of pressure on the quarterback because of that. So watch out for Tyreek Tucker from Indiana.

We move to the second level now, linebackers. Xavier Atkins from Auburn. He does it all. This was his stat line last year. 84 tackles, 9 sacks, 17 TFLs. Yep, sign me up. Sign me up. How about Clemson, Sammy Brown?

Over 100 tackles last year, including 13 and a half tackles for loss. Sign me up for those guys. And then second team behind them, a couple of guys that you need to pay attention to. Risham Biles at Texas, back to back, all ACC player at Pitt. And now comes over the 40 acres, over 100 tackles and 17 tackles for loss last season. Biles is going to help fill that hole left by Anthony Hill, who departed to the NFL. And then my other second team linebacker is Relijah Hardy, who actually led Indiana in tackles. It wasn't Aidan Fisher. It was Relijah Hardy.

A sneaky great player on that side of the ball. And again, you get an experienced player that has played for Bryant Haynes quite often, and you're going to have something. And so here's Indiana, a couple of second team, All-Americans, right down the middle of their defense with Tyreek Tucker and Elijah Hardy. The Hoosiers are not going anywhere, folks. Let's go to the secondary. I tell you, Georgia and Alabama are loaded in the secondary. First team safeties. KJ. Bolden, Georgia, Bray Hubbard, Alabama.

These guys are awesome. Kirby, just as always, has an absolute stud, secondary player, leader, and that's KJ. Bolden. Always has a star safety. At this point, it's just like, who's the safety from Georgia? Oh yeah, he's our All-American. Bolden is going to go into his junior gear. Bray Hubbard was an All-American from a year ago.

Has over 20 starts in his career. He's an excellent player. I expect this tied secondary to be one of the best in the country, if not the best in the country. Hubbard is a huge reason why. Kind of the middle guy, member of the Bama Secondary will be mentioned. Another Bama Secondary member is going to be mentioned shortly. They're loaded back there.

Second team for safeties is going to be Bryce Fitzgerald at Miami, who was a monster as a freshman a year ago with six interceptions, and then watch out for Coy Perich from Oregon. Another one of these Oregon players popping up here. Look out for him. Big fan of from his time at Minnesota. He transfers over to Oregon and now joins a talented secondary with Dan Landing. So corners, here's the deal. I didn't have a true nickel, so I'm just going to select three corners on the All-American team.

and the reason I'm doing that is most teams play with three corners on the field, sometimes three safeties, a lot of times three corners. So my three corners are going to be Leonard Moore from Notre Dame, Brandon Finney from Oregon, and Zabian Brown from Alabama. Again, like Alabama, Georgia, loaded, Oregon loaded. Leonard Moore, probably the best defender in the country. He's 6-2-200 pounds, five interceptions a year ago. Leonard Moore is outstanding.

Finney from Oregon started every game as a true freshman for Oregon a year ago. He was second team all big 10 and I think he's going to be a guy that really stands out this year. He's my sixth Oregon duck on a first or second team so far throughout this All-American list. That's the best roster in the sport, six of these guys. And then Zabian Brown started each of his first two seasons in Tuscaloosa right at the high school, former five-star recruit, really, really good player. Other guys that I considered second team corners, Bryce Pollock at Tech, Texas Tech, he had five interceptions a year ago, did not allow a touchdown in coverage. Ellis Robinson from Georgia, excellent player, huge recruit out of high school, living up to the

expectations, four picks a year ago. DJ Pickett at LSU, absolutely outstanding, big guy, lengthy, six, four, played as a true freshman and was a freshman All-American. And that will do it for the preseason All-American team. College football season is almost here. and if you're like me, this is the best time of year. You're looking at the schedule, checking the matchups, and circling the big games, you have to see in person. There's just nothing quite like that Saturday Stadium atmosphere.

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And I think it is a great defense. We've got power in the middle. We've got great rushers. We've got tackle hungry linebackers and an excellent secondary. Outside on the edge, we start up front. Remember it was Colin Simmons and Dylan Stewart. They're going to be outstanding. Amari, Washington at Oregon, David Stone in the middle from Oklahoma.

Xavier Atkins and Sammy Brown are my linebackers. Outside, Zabian Brown and Leonard Moore, and then in the back end, KJ Bolden, Brandon Finney, Bray Hubbard. That is an outstanding defense as we cap our very first preseason All-American team. You can kind of see where I'm getting some of these preseason predictions, in particular from an Oregon. or even in Indiana. You see a lot of these players littered in this list for me on the All-American team.

Did I miss somebody? Hit me up. Subscribe to the show on YouTube. Leave a comment down below if you feel like I missed somebody. I'm sure that I miss somebody, but go ahead. And if you are listening wherever you get your podcast, make sure to rate and review us. That's always welcomed.

Follow us wherever you like to social media. At Joel Clatchio. And then on Wednesday, you are going to want to come back. because as I've already told you here on this episode and last week I told you, I've got a great episode for you coming out on Wednesday. Very exciting that we had time with Brady Quinn and Robert Griffin III to talk all things quarterback play. Where's the quarterback position at?

What do we like? What do we not like about the modern college football game and quarterback play in general? What do we think about some of this year's crops of quarterbacks? And some incredible stories from these guys' career, including a story from Robert Griffin, and the third that Texas fans are just going to melt hearing. So that's coming out on Wednesday. Until then, have a great day, everybody. Real Canadian Superstore has everything you need this back-to-school season.

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