Athlon, Phil Steele Name Preseason Pac-12 Teams

BOULDER—Athlon and Phil Steele's College Football, two popular college football publications, have named their respective preseason All-Pac-12 teams, with the latter becoming public earlier this week.

Athlon named S Isaiah Lewis to its second-team defense while another pair of defenders made the third team in DL Jalen Sami and LB Quinn Perry. PK Cole Becker was named third-team at place kicker and the team was rounded out by two offensive selections on the fourth team with TE Brady Russell and OL Casey Roddick.

Phil Steele, who's publication came out earlier this week, with WR R.J. Sneed picking up second-team honors. Sami was named third team on defense with DL Terrance Lang and Lewis picking up fourth team defensive honors and Russell fourth-team offensive honors.

After missing his first three collegiate field goal attempts, Becker responded and connected on 14-of-17 attempts the rest of the season, including on 3-of-4 from 50-yards or longer. He also connected on all 25 PAT tries and scored 67 points, becoming the seventh player to lead the Buffs in scoring as a freshman.

Lang has started 27 of his 40 career games, including 11 of 12 in 2021. He has 85 career tackles, 35 of which have come at or behind the line of scrimmage including 9.5 sacks. He also has 27 quarterback hurries and six pass breakups entering his fifth season in 2022.

Lewis led the Buffs in overall tackles with 79 and had a team-best 55 solo stops in 2021. He closed the 2021 campaign with a career-best 12 tackles (nine solo) against Utah. He also had seven third down stops and two interceptions in 2021 and has 15 third down stops and eight pass breakups in his career.

Perry stepped in for an injured Nate Landman the second half of 2021 and ended up finishing second on the team with 78 tackles, including 53 solo stops, and 10 tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage. In the double-OT win against Oregon State, he had a career best 11 tackles, nine of which were solo with four at or behind the line of scrimmage including one tackle for loss.

Roddick came back from a hard off season and earned the starting spot at offensive guard two games into the 2021 season and ended up starting the final 10 games. He had seven perfect blocks on TD plays and four touchdown blocks on running plays, allowing just 2.5 sacks and being flagged three times in 572 overall plays.

Russell led the team in both receptions and yards in 2021, just the 14th time in the 130-year history of the program a tight end accomplished that feat, and just the third this century joining Daniel Graham (2001, Mackey Award Winner) and Riar Geer (2006). He has 58 career receptions for 646 yards, ranking ninth and 12th, respectively, for tight ends in school history.

Sami continues to improve every season for the Buffs and played a key role in 2021 with 30 tackles, including 23 solo and 10 at or behind the line of scrimmage. He earned All-Pac-12 honors from the coaches and had 58 career tackles, 19 at or behind the line of scrimmage with 2.5 sacks.

Sneed is a graduate transfer from Baylor and enrolled at Colorado prior to the spring season. He has appeared in 47 collegiate games and has 133 receptions for 1,564 yard and eight touchdowns. His best game to date was against Kansas when he caught six passes for 128 yards and a touchdown, and he had a career-best eight catches against Texas for 94 yards and a score.

Players Mentioned

Cole Becker

Nate Landman

Terrance Lang

Isaiah Lewis

Quinn Perry

Casey Roddick

Brady Russell

Jalen Sami

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